Picture Day
by Agent Spielplatz
Summary: The end is here. Epilogue up.
1. Tsunade's Great Idea

AN: Okay so I should be doing about a dozen different things right now including several homework assignments and studying for test, but I'm not. Instead it's one a.m. and I'm sitting here writing fan-fiction, some times I really doubt my own sanity.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

* * *

**Picture Day**

"Good morning everyone!" Tsunade chirped when she walked into her office one bright and sunny morning.

Jiraiya looked at her closely for a moment before asking, "What did you do with the real Tsunade? Not that I mind the change," he added as an afterthought.

Tsunade looked at him in confusion before replying, "What do you mean?"

"You're never this chipper in the morning. You're always grumpy and you normally have a hangover," Jiraiya answered not realizing how much trouble he was about to get in. He figured it out a moment later when Tsunade's fist bounced off his head sending him to the ground.

As Jiraiya twitched around on the floor of her office, Tsunade turned and smiled at the four Jounin in front of her. "Thank you all for meeting with me this wonderful morning. I'm sure you'd all rather be out spending the day with your students so I promise I'll make this quick," she said as her smile brightened a bit.

Kakashi felt a sense of foreboding while watching the Hokage smile like that. Jiraiya was right the Godaime was definitely not a morning person, so her behavior had to mean something was up. Normally this much cheer would mean a great deal of trouble at other's expense, especially when she could sit back and watch.

"I'm sure you've all noticed this by now: your teams are growing up," she said, stating the obvious. "All nine rookies and Gai's students are at least Chuunin level, though for the most part they've risen even higher. Your students are gaining a good deal of recognition from our clients," she added, still failing to tell them why they were in her office.

"Tsunade-sama, like you said they're all at least Chuunin level and even though we still train with our teams occasionally we-" Kurenai was cut off by a wave of Tsunade delicately manicured hands.

"I know that none of you are technically still their senseis, but they will always be your students," Tsunade said, pretending to answer Kurenai's question. "Anyway I have decided – after looking over their files – that _this_ cannot go on any longer," she said, handing them each a folder. Kakashi looked down and laughed when he realized what he was holding. In the folder were Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke's registration pages.

"Because many of your students work for our higher paying clients, more individual information is given out concerning them, which includes a picture," she explained. "Unfortunately their pictures haven't been replaced since they graduated and became Genin," she added sheepishly.

"That was five years ago, six for Gai's team," Kurenai deadpanned.

Tsunade awkwardly scratched the back of her head. "Yes well things have been very hectic," she explained. Kakashi fought the urge to roll his eyes.

Tsunade glanced down and kicked Jiraiya once waking him out of his daze. He grumbled and stood up slowly before glaring at Tsunade. "As I was saying, it cannot go on any longer. I can't have clients come in expecting my best people and getting pictures of twelve year old Naruto and Sasuke," she said before quickly adding, "or any of the other wonderful rookies."

"What does this have to do with us?" Asuma drawled, taking drag on his cigarette. Tsunade scowled at him before reaching over and taking away said cigarette. Kurenai tried not to laugh at his shocked expression.

"So unhealthy," Tsunade mumbled under her breath, before straightening from putting out the cigarette and looking the senseis in the eye. "I have decided to hold a picture day," she declared, smiling at them. "While I want individual pictures for obvious reasons I decided it would be fun to get updated team pictures as well. For old time's sake," she said.

"Wonderful idea Tsunade-sama!" Gai shouted, giving Tsunade the good-guy pose. "I will cherish this picture of captured youth and strength and-" he was cut off when Tsunade's fist found his head as well.

"Right then, I'm glad everyone's so enthusiastic about the idea. Here's the deal though, I want these pictures to look good," she said, gaining the almost sadistic smirk she was known to develop right before assigning Naruto a D Class mission as punishment. "This means I want each team to look organized and together. You don't all have to wear the same thing but everyone's outfits should fit," she said enlightening them. She smiled at Kurenai who was smiling right back at her, "You know what I mean correct?"

Kurenai's smile broadened and she nodded. "I won't have any trouble, but…" she trailed off and looking at Gai, Asuma and Kakashi. Tsunade nodded and turned attention to the three men. "This means you need to take your teams shopping. You aren't going to find coordinating attire in their closets at home," she studied them a moment before sighing and throwing up her hands. "Who am I kidding?" she asked no one in particular.

She turned to Kakashi and asked a bit more grumpily than usual, "Can I assume that you possess the typical gay man's fashion sense?" Kakashi sweat dropped before nodding. Tsunade smiled a bit and nodded back. "Good just make sure you don't let them wear masks and your team should be okay; it isn't like Sakura would let you do anything stupid anyways," she said before turning to Gai and Asuma.

"Luckily I planned ahead for you two. Gai, my assistant Shizune will be helping you. Just remember absolutely no green spandex on anyone. Asuma, Anko will be helping you," she said quickly before turning away from the gaping Jounin. Kurenai finally did laugh out when she heard that Asuma was going to be working with the most psychotic Special Jounin ever. _This should be good_, she thought before turning back to Tsunade.

"You have a week to prepare your students. Do whatever you need, I know most of them work so often that hygiene doesn't seem to be high on their lists of priorities so show them who's boss," she said, smiling and waving them out of her office. "At the end of the week we'll meet again to arrange for the pictures to be taken," she added.

As Kakashi reached the door he turned back upon hearing an overly sweet, "Oh, Kakashi-kun" He looked back upon the Hokage with dread. "Just remember that on your team is Jiraiya's pupil and the future Hokage; my own student and one of the most talented medic Nins in Konoha; and the last Uchiha an ANBU Captain," she stated sweetly. "Your team's picture will be going right here," she said with smirk as she pointed a spot on her desk. Kakashi gulped slightly and glanced down to see a spot right next to an assortment of pictures ranging from Sandaime's Genin team picture; the Sannin as Genin; the Sannin and their students; his own Genin picture with Yondaime as his sensei; and a picture of Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune standing behind a twelve year old Naruto taken on the trip to retrieve the Godaime. He gulped again and then nodded as he walked out the door. _I'm screwed,_ he thought as he walked to meet his team.

* * *

AN: Okay so this fic was inspired by the Candybar DollMaker elouai . com. I was really bored and decided to create the Naruto characters and then got a bit carried away. So anyway it's only gonna be a few chapter long but I decided to try something a bit more humorous but not completely pointless.

And just a quick note the whole gay man's fashion sense is just a joke. Please don't take offense to it.

Also this probably doesn't need to be PG-13 I just don't know how much cussing will creep up in other chapters so I'm playing it safe.


	2. Green

AN: Alright so I really shouldn't have started this fic but since I did I'm going to finish it. It just might be a while so try to be patient. School is really hectic right now and as a procrastinator I am foolishly putting aside school work for something I enjoy much more (in this case writing my stories). However at some point I do have to stop and actually work on homework so bear with me for a while.

_ayuka-chan_ I agree on the spandex issue, especially in green, not one of my favorite colors.

_Wolvesmon, Azamiko, KunochiDreamer_ thank you. I hope it stays enjoyable not sure if it's gonna stay cute though, Anko can be quite frightening.

_Jamakusai,__Night-Owl123_ hmmm… yeah updates may be a bit of a problem. But I swear it will be finished…eventually. Enjoy.

_Jubei Himura_ I definitely considered that. I picked Shizune because I decided it would be funny to get her all frazzled dealing with Lee and Gai. Anko would just beat the shit out of them or something; instead she'll have fun with lazy-asses Asuma and Shikamaru.

_Hujin_ green spandex should be outlawed. We'll see Neji something much classier.

_Moonlightpath_ oh the shopping (_cackles with glee_).

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Yeah since I forgot to mention in the last chapter this is obviously AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

* * *

**Picture Day**

Eighteen year-old Hyuuga Neji sighed for the fifth time in under half an hour, which was exactly how late their sensei was to their weekly meeting. He briefly wondered if Kakashi was beginning to rub off on Gai before dismissing that idea. In order to pass the time he decided to study his teammates; he hadn't seen either in almost two months because missions had caused him to miss so many of their weekly meetings.

Thinking back over the years, it was easy to see that his team had definitely grown up. All three of them were currently Jounin. He had been promoted on his second try for the Chuunin title and had jumped to Jounin a year and half after that. He was currently working on an ANBU squad. Lee and TenTen had been promoted to Chuunin six months after him. Lee had jumped to Jounin at the same time as him much to Lee's pleasure and his own chagrin; TenTen had followed a year later. Lee had taken on a Genin team, but TenTen was also in ANBU; unfortunately the two were in separate squads, which explained why the three saw each other so rarely.

Lee was still a Gai clone, and TenTen still had too much fun with bladed weapons; other than that they had all matured and changed quite a bit. Lee had grown taller and was more muscled than he had been when they were fourteen, but his eyes were still obnoxiously wide. And as Naruto had a penchant for saying, "Fuzzy Eyebrows" still looked silly. Lee on the other hand couldn't care less, well that or he was just as dense as Gai-sensei…_Right_ Neji thought. When Naruto had beat Lee and become a Jounin before them both – once again to Neji's chagrin, the blond brat had also managed to become Chuunin at the same time as him – Lee had declared the ever oblivious blond to be his eternal rival. It didn't help that Naruto had as much fun with Lee as Kakashi did with Gai.

TenTen had matured nicely as well. She was one of Konoha's top weapons users and her abilities were very…eclectic he thought with a grin. Though she still wore her hair in buns and her clothing had changed little, the girl was not the Tomboy she had been. She was almost as good at seduction as that annoying blond Shikamaru was stuck with. She could get in close to a target before striking with any number of weapons she had completely concealed. He still couldn't find all of the weapons she hid on herself.

Neji was torn from his silent contemplation by loud sobbing. He turned and his eyes widened a bit when he realized that he hadn't even noticed his sensei's arrival. His shock turned to annoyance when he realized the sobbing was coming from the overenthusiastic greeting Gai and Lee were lavishing upon each other. While they alternately sobbed and hugged, TenTen sidled up to Neji and whispered, "Try putting up with this when the only other sane member of your team decides to go off on missions and leave you here alone." Neji smirked and turned to respond when he was assaulted by his sensei's eccentric shouting.

"Neji my boy the light of youth shines brightly in you today," he said, causing Neji to look at him in confusion. TenTen smirked at him furthering his aggravation. As much as she loved her team it was quite fun watching Gai torture them. Sometimes she wondered if her sensei did it on purpose or if it was really his personality. She was torn from her thoughts when she noticed the young woman standing behind Gai watching the entire scene in bemusement.

"Shizune-san," Neji said with a slight bow to the Hokage's assistant. She smiled and returned the greeting before turning to Gai. "We should really be getting started with the explanation," she said sweetly trying to remain polite. Lucky for her she had gained a great deal of patience traveling with Tsunade and later dealing with the old ha…Hokage and Naruto.

"Right!" Gai shouted, giving Shizune the Nice-Guy pose.

She attempted not to sweat drop as she coughed politely trying to regain his attention. "In that case, you should probably explain to them why I'm here," she said pointing to his students.

"Of course," Guy shouted, turning his attention back to his students. TenTen did sweat drop at her sensei's absent mindedness; Neji just rolled his eyes; and Lee was the picture of attentiveness. "Our beautiful, ageless, powerful flower of a Hokage," he started, causing all but Lee to blink at him and shake their heads.

Gai coughed slightly when he realized he had lost their attention. "Tsunade-hime has decided that in order to make a most cool and youthful impression on our most influential and wonderful clients she needs to make a few…" he trailed off and blinked trying to come up with the proper word.

"Modifications?" Shizune suggested.

"Modifications!" Gai shouted enthusiastically while giving his Nice-Guy pose.

"What exactly are these modifications?" Neji asked hesitantly. If he were to be totally he honest he probably didn't want to know, especially not if Gai-sensei was so enthusiastic over it.

"Well you see," Gai said, scratching his head in embarrassment. "The more high paying clients, the ones you all along with the Rookie 9 tend to work for, receive a bit more information about the shinobi they're hiring," he began, glancing nervously at his students. TenTen and Neji exchanged confused glances, but Lee remained unabashedly attentive. "The pictures that are included in these files that they receive are a bit out of date," he added.

TenTen shrugged what Gai-sensei was saying made sense. _Come to think of it I haven't had a picture taken for my files since…_ she suddenly looked up at Gai-sensei in horror. "Sensei," she started cautiously, "exactly how old are these pictures?"

Neji and Lee looked at her in confusion, but she wasn't paying attention to them. She knew that neither of the other two would ever figure out just how wrong this situation was.

Shizune almost felt sorry that Gai had been picked as messenger. Actually, she almost felt sorry for all the senseis; Kurenai would probably have the least negative reaction seeing as how Kiba would be the only one to give her any trouble. She had to suppress a grin when she thought about Kakashi's team. She wouldn't mind being there when they heard the news; actually, she didn't feel sorry for him at all.

Gai nervously scratched the back of his head and coughed causing his students to look at him. "Six years," he mumbled.

TenTen smacked her head and turned to her teammates. Lee looked confused for a few moments before comprehension dawned on his face and he whispered, "Uncool." Neji was stoic as always but TenTen could tell the boy – well man, really – was trying not to laugh. He was one of the few people who would find humor in this situation. He was one of the few people who found humor in anything the Hokage did; everyone else tended to be resignedly embarrassed. _For all her power Tsunade is a blond,_ TenTen thought with a sigh.

* * *

AN: Alright I need cannon fodder here so I want suggestions. Kakashi needs a boyfriend so Naruto can make fun of him. As much as I love Iruka and Kakashi being paired together I want something different in this fic. There won't be any love scenes or anything I really just need to give Naruto material to use against Kakashi. Just remember Kakashi is gay so it needs to be a guy…like I said **boyfriend**. Secondly, you can suggest whoever you want but I won't pair him with anyone too young including members of the Rookie 9, also it won't be Gai or Asuma. Other than that I'd like to hear what you all want and any suggestions on other pairing are welcome as well. 


	3. Clouds

AN:

_Night-Owl123_ workin' on it, thanks for the review.

_Dual Rasengan_ like I said before, scary. Hope you like it so far.

_Liliath, KunochiDreamer,_ _Vermillion Wolf_ I'm glad you like it so far. Thanks for the review.

_SGL_ Genma would most definitely serve the purpose.

_Tombadgerlock_ yeah sorry for the confusion, I posted the first chapter on a whim and forgot to put the notice in it. It should be there in the second chapter, if not see below for more on that.

_Azamiko_ Genma seems to be popular; you're the second person to recommend him.

_Jubei Himura_ I like that suggestion, there'll have to be a vote.

_Ravens Quill_ Genma again eh? We'll see.

_Exerci_ that is a very interesting suggestion, Jiraiya could be very funny.

_The Gandhara_ I hope the intros don't bother you too much. Genma and Ebisu again, it will probably be one of them.

_Great Saiyaman_ um… sorry? I apologize if you don't like gay pairings, if it will make you feel better and still read, pairings won't have a big impact on the story. The only reason I want Kakashi's established is to give Naruto and Sasuke something to tease him about. Sorry if you really don't like them.

_Ayuka-chan_ again I'm sorry you don't like slash pairings. I am considering several other pairings right now (see end note) and most of them are het. so hopefully you won't be too discouraged by Kakashi's pairing.

_Lizzenly_ wow you people really like the idea of Genma which is actually really scary because that was who I was considering and then I got most of the reviews suggesting him.

_R e c R a p t o r_ I like the ideas. Thanks for the review.

_Moonlightpath_ interesting suggestion for Kakashi but I want it to be someone in Konoha. As for the other one I'm considering it.

_Hurrahhurrah_ I'm glad you enjoy it so far! If you do come up with any suggestions for pairings just drop me a line.

_Harukakanata_ I'll definitely consider them, thanks for the suggestions.

_crazy-antman _oh the shopping will be interesting. Shizune is a very patient person but I think Gai would drive anyone up the wall. Kakashi is another story all together. Hehehehe!

_Ly Mizukage_ ah, screw voting I just got another Genma vote. I'll definitely consider your other suggestion as well.

yes I see Tsunade as bit of ditz however she tends to make the best of situations (wink wink). The shopping will be interesting you might begin to notice that all not all the teams are in heaven at the moment.

_Bellashade_ I hope it remains funny. Glad you like it so far.

_starry096 _hmmm… another interesting suggestion. Thanks.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed and gave me suggestions.

This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.

And after that last review I suppose I should state quite clearly that at least two characters in this story will be gay (Kakashi and whoever I decide). None of the pairings will serve as major plot points so hopefully if it isn't your thing it won't turn you away.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

* * *

**Picture Day**

Nara Shikamaru sat on a bench waiting for his sensei. He didn't really care when the man showed up; after all, whatever Ino had planned for them today would interrupt his cloud watching. Speaking of things that interrupted his cloud watching, he was really in the wrong profession. After he had been promoted to Jounin two years ago he had joined ANBU as one of their lead strategists. That damn job was too troublesome, but taking on a Genin team would be more troublesome so he remained as he was. At least this way he occasionally worked with Neji or one of the other Rookies. He sighed and banished all thoughts from his head as he went back to cloud gazing, _thinking is just too troublesome_.

Ino rolled her eyes and smirked at her teammate's antics. Shikamaru's constant cloud watching was one of the oddest traits she had ever seen among shinobi. _And that includes Gai and Lee's antics,_ she thought with a smirk gracing her pretty face. She unfortunately did not share her teammate's good luck. It had taken her three years to pass the Chuunin Exam, which meant of course that she had only received that rank two years ago. _I probably won't make it to Jounin status for another two or three years at my rate of growth_, she thought grudgingly, _damn big forehead girl already a Jounin for longer than I've been a Chuunin._ Of course she wasn't alone. Kiba, Chouji, and Hinata were also still Chuunin, but it still pissed her off every time her friend 'accidentally' rubbed the fact in her face.

She glanced at her teammates thinking about everything they had been through together. Alright so they hadn't actually gone on a mission together in almost three years. And they only saw each other when she organized these little get-togethers after begging Iruka-sensei to tell her when her former teammates and sensei were off for the day. Not to mention that when they did get together Chouji ate all day, Shikamaru stared at the clouds or played Shogi, and Asuma-sensei smoked and talked about how they should train more. That left her on her own. Surprisingly these days left her with a very nostalgic feeling, _it's not like we ever did anything else when we were all Genin_.

Ino's eyes glazed slightly as she thought about her teammates; both Chouji and Shikamaru had grown nicely. They were both tall, Chouji was almost six foot three; they were both quite handsome as well she thought with a grin. If she had had an Inner Ino she would be leering at the two young men. As it was, she exercised self restraint and managed to remain aloof. All three were quite powerful and good at what they did. Chouji would probably become Jounin within the next year or so, he had mentioned taking a Genin team when the time came. Shikamaru was one of the most sought after minds in his field. She was talented in her own right. She had perfected many of her family jutsu and was one of the best definitions of a Kunoichi. Her infiltration and seduction skills were better than any other Chuunin and she liked to believe better than many Jounin as well. For the time being, as jealous as she was of her friends' ranks she was happy where she was.

Chouji munched happily on his snack completely oblivious to the workings of his teammates' minds.

Finally Ino came out of her thoughts and glanced down at her watch only to realize that Asuma-sensei was almost half an hour late. "Where is that lazy-ass?" she shouted to no one in particular.

"Hmmm… what lazy-ass?" Asuma drawled as he walked up to his students.

"Finally," Ino shouted as she threw up her hands in exasperation.

"So what are we doing today?" Chouji asked through a mouthful of chips.

Ino sighed and turned to look at the men who were her team. "I don't know maybe go out to eat and catch up. After that we can all train together or something," she said trailing off.

"Sounds troublesome," Shikamaru remarked, trailing off when he felt the killer intent rolling off his blond teammate in waves.

"Then you think of something to do you lazy bastard. I didn't know I was wasting my time trying to make sure I at least had a bit of time with my friends once a month," Ino shouted before huffing and turning away.

"Can we get barbeque?" Chouji asked still stuffing his face.

"It's not lunchtime yet," Asuma drawled.

"It's never a bad time for barbeque," Chouji said back with a grin. Shikamaru smirked at his friend's antics before turning back to gaze at the sky. Ino watched the three with growing depression. She hated them sometimes. When ever the four of them got together Asuma-sensei, Chouji, and Shikamaru would joke around and piss her off as they constantly pointed out that she was the third wheel – well fourth if she wanted to be literal. They didn't want her around and every time she tried to get them to all do something that fact became painfully obvious.

"You know what, you three go enjoy yourselves I'm going home," she said. As she turned to go her teammates and sensei looked at her in concern. Shikamaru was about to apologize but someone spoke before him. "And here I was thinking Kakashi's brats were screwed up."

Asuma rolled his eyes and turned to face the intruder. "Go away Anko, we still have a week and today was for the four of us to spend together.

"Yeah well from the looks of it you're about to lose your fourth member, so I figured I'd step in," Anko quipped back, grinning maniacally at Asuma.

"What do you want Anko-san?" Shikamaru asked not bothering to take overly concerned eyes off Ino.

"What, you mean he hasn't told you yet?" she asked grinning.

"Told us what?" Ino growled out looking at her ex-sensei.

"Tsunade needs to update her files so she's decided that all of you need new I.D. photos," Asuma said.

"Pictures!" Ino's entire demeanor changed when she realized this meant she could go shopping for a new outfit.

"What do you mean 'update her files'" Shikamaru asked warily.

Anko grinned evilly as she looked at the team in front of her. _I'd rather be torturing Gai or Kakashi's teams but I'll have to make do with what I've been given,_ she thought. "Tsunade gives higher paying clients files on the shinobi that they hire, the files include I.D. photos. Unfortunately Tsunade-sama has been _so_ busy that she's forgotten to update the photos in about five years," she said, turning from Shikamaru to Ino.

Ino stared at the Jounin in shock; how could someone who became Hokage be so irresponsible as to give clients outdated information? "How did she ever become Hokage?" Ino whispered just loud enough for Anko to hear. "That brat Naruto convinced her," Anko replied still grinning.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and decided to ignore the entire scene. This was all going to be very troublesome. New pictures meant his mother would nag; Ino would nag; and the Hokage would nag. _Women are troublesome_, he thought as he continued to gaze at the clouds.

* * *

AN: So I got two suggestions for Ebisu as Kakashi's boyfriend, one for Jiraiya, one for Baki (Gaara's sensei), and six for Genma. This won't come up for about three more chapters so I'd like to hear what the rest of you think. Just remember that isn't serious romance or anything, the couple is there so I can write jokes about them. Secondly, remember no Gai, Asuma or any of the younger chaps. I get the impression that people are disappointed with the whole no Iruka thing, don't get me wrong Kakashi/Iruka is one of my favorite pairings I just wanted something a little less mainstream for that particular match.

Any suggestions on other pairings are welcome. I've gotten a lot of requests for Neji/TenTen and will definitely consider it among others to put in later. Just two quick notes; you can ask for NaruHina and SasuSaku but they probably won't happen, I'm not a big fan of the first and I'm not really in the mood to write the second. Just a warning.


	4. How Boring

AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I don't have time to answer every individual review this week but I really do appreciate them.

This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

* * *

**Picture Day**

Seventeen year-old Hyuuga Hinata sat silently beside her teammate, Aburame Shino, as the two watched Kiba and Akamaru play several feet away. She and her teammates always enjoyed the quiet days they spent catching up with Kurenai-sensei. It was always enjoyable to hear about the missions Kurenai, Kiba, and Shino had been on, and she loved telling stories about the students at the Academy.

Shino had been promoted to Chuunin six months after their initial try along with Neji, Sasuke, and Naruto much to everyone's surprise. He had been promoted to Jounin a year and half later along with Lee, Neji, and Sakura (she and Lee had become Chuunin at the same time as TenTen). Kiba, along with Chouji, had achieved Chuunin rank a year after Shino, and she had passed the test along with Ino two years previous (a year and a half after Kiba). Kiba was currently trying for Jounin status and hoped to achieve it within the next year or so.

She was perfectly happy where she was. She had been working at the academy for the past two years only going on missions occasionally. She had no intention of moving onto Jounin any time soon. That fact only served to make the clan furious with her, but with the support of Neji and her father she hadn't been bullied into moving through the ranks quicker than she was comfortable. It was very likely that she would back Hanabi as future head of the Clan and just stick with what she enjoyed.

Shino watched his teammates and was pleased to notice that they both looked happy. He had been on Shikamaru's ANBU team for almost a year now and it wasn't odd to hear the normally lazy Jounin voice concern over his teammates. Unlike Chouji and Ino, Kiba and Hinata seemed genuinely happy with their progress. He was pleased that both of his teammates were succeeding so well. He knew Kiba enjoyed complaining about his rank – especially when Naruto was brought up – but the other boy was doing quite well as he was.

He was also pleased that Hinata had finally come out of her shell. With the encouragement of her father, cousin, and even her younger sister the now Chuunin had gotten over her fears (and her crush on Naruto). She was now one of the students' favorite teachers at the academy. Her classes excelled under the girl's care and attention to detail.

They had been waiting for nearly half an hour when Kurenai strolled up apologizing. "I'm sorry I'm late," she said when she stopped next to Hinata. Kiba and Akamaru paused to wave in greeting, causing the others to grin – no matter that it wasn't visible on Shino. "Come over here for a moment," Kurenai shouted, motioning for Kiba to join the group.

Kiba and a now full sized and ferocious looking Akamaru trotted over to join their old team. Contrary to his fierce appearance, Akamaru yipped a greeting and licked Kurenai's hand. She smiled at the dog and reached down to scratch behind the ears. "Eh Kurenai-sensei you're late, I was starting to understand why Team 7 used to complain about Kakashi all the time," Kiba joked in greeting.

Kurenai blushed a bit before rolling her eyes and grinning back at him. "Yes but my excuse will be real," she said, "The Hokage called a meeting this morning to discuss a slight problem she's been having recently.

"What kind of problem?" Hinata asked concerned for her Hokage.

"Nothing severe," Kurenai assured the young girl. "You see it turns out that in the past several years the administration office has fallen behind in updating their files. Unfortunately due to the higher paying clients that all of you work for this tends to cause a bit of a problem because parts of your files haven't been updated so these clients are receiving out of date information," she explained.

"What do we need to do?" Kiba asked looking at Kurenai curiously.

"She needs us all to retake photos and she decided it would be fun if we got team photos at the same time, for old time's sake," Kurenai answered. She watched her team cautiously for a moment but they just smiled and nodded. "Well then we don't really need to do anything concerning that today, so what do we want to do?" she asked smiling at her team. The four walked off chatting about recent work and such things.

Far away in the Hokage Tower Tsunade mumbled, "How boring," before switching to watch the other teams hoping for excitement and trouble. _I wonder if Naruto would still want the job if he learned how boring it is,_ she thought briefly before reaching for another Sake bottle.

* * *

AN: Okay this chapter was just like its name. I considered not posting it but decided it helped me get out some more specific background information. We'll see Team 7 next chapter and the pace and excitement should pick up after that.

I know this is a bit boring but please put up with me. Once again thanks for the reviews, I'm sorry I couldn't answer them this week but school is starting to hit hard with only a month left in the semester. If anyone had any questions that I missed you should probably resubmit them because I probably won't remember to respond to them next time. Sorry I'm a bit absentminded at times.

Everyone have a good week, bye!


	5. YOU'RE LATE!

AN: Alright thanks for all the reviews. Once again I'm sorry I couldn't answer them all last time, I was swamped with homework and other fun stuff.

First off I'm just gonna say what did you expect when I even named the chapter _How Boring_. This one's better I promise.

_xx-Tsumi-Chan-xx _I'm glad you liked the chapter.

_Jubei Himura_ it was short for my liking as well. I swear the rest of the chapters will be longer though not by much. This isn't the sort of fic where I can spout off ten pages at least not yet.

_Vermillion Wolf _well I did warn you that it would boring. Hopefully this chapter makes up for it.

_Harukakanata, hurrahhurrah, moonlightpath_ I'm glad you liked it.

_Ravenchild89_ glad you like the idea. I hope it lives up to your expectations.

_starry096_ yes yes the elusive bio has been filled in. Check back once in a while you never know what I'll come with for it (have you seen Scenes from a Chinese Restaurant yet?). Oh and I'm glad you liked the chapter as well.

_krn-kimbap_ well that is certainly a very cute and enthusiastic review. I'm glad you liked this story so much (I checked out yours but I haven't had a chance to finish it yet). As far Tsunade's concerned you ain't seen nothing yet! There will be no green spandex in this story (at least not at the end). Ino and Anko are very similar I chose to exploit that so I'm glad you liked it. I'm glad you liked the most recent chapter as well.

_Aligrl_ first off let me say that I love your name (Ali) and secondly thanks for the review and I'm glad you like it so far (or at least find it interesting). Alright now let's talk; I both agree and disagree with you so let me explain my reasoning. I agree that Hinata likes Naruto because he gives her confidence, but the way I see it Hinata has taken that and formed a crush out of it. I think her crush is more idolization then a serious crush and that if she really thought about it she and Naruto would probably never amount to more than friends (just my interpretation). Also my view is that lack of self confidence stems from having fears. In Hinata's case it is her fear of letting people down and not living up to the expectations placed on her. I believe if she stopped worrying about what others expected of her and concentrated on what she wants she would gain that confidence and stop being so shy. Please don't think I'm saying anything against you (I've dealt with some people who are offended easily so I'm being cautious here) I really appreciate such well thought out reviews I'm just trying to justify it relation to this fic. Sorry this is such a long response but I hope it helps you understand where I'm coming from here.

_Lizzeny_ thank you very much I'm glad you like how the story is written.

Possible Pairings: I've gotten a lot of requests for both Neji/TenTen and Ino/Shikamaru. The first one I'll almost definitely use the second one is a possibility. Kiba/Hinata and Lee/Sakura are also possible. And I've decided Kakashi will be paired with Genma; I've already written several scenes that include this last one so don't ask me to change it.

Impossible Pairings: I'm just gonna go ahead and say that I will not use Sakura/Sasuke or Naruto/Hinata in this fic. I'm not a big fan of either of them in general and they just really won't work with what I have planned.

Just keep in mind that I am aiming to make this a humor fic which means pairings will mainly be used in humorous ways. Don't expect anything too deep here, though it will be well thought out (except for a few slight mix ups with ranks and such see my author note at the bottom which could very possibly confuse you even more).

On a slightly related note I'd really like to hear your opinions about this. I've gotten a number of reviews that mention they might stop reading because I'm including a male/male pairing. I have nothing against it personally (actually I'm a bit of a slash fangirl) and I don't have anything against those who don't like it either. My question is this if you don't like slash, why? I'm just curious if it has to with age, religion, or just personal preference. You don't have to respond I'm just curious. (If you don't want to answer in a review feel free to email me separately)

This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

* * *

**Picture Day**

_Where the hell is he?_ Inner Sakura raged while Sakura fought not to voice her counterpart's anger. Although judging by the looks Naruto and Sasuke had just given her she must have failed that particular pursuit. _Oh well,_ she thought turning her back to them and watching the river under their bridge.

Team 7 had grown up nicely. Sakura had kept her hair short and it was particularly messy on that particular day (she had been out a bit too late the night before). She was also quite tall only two inches shorter than Naruto, who just happened to still be an inch shorter than Sasuke, who was an inch taller than Kakashi. Her eyes were green as ever and complemented nicely by the small pink diamond situated on her still overly large forehead. She still dressed like she did when she was fifteen, her red shirt and skirt with black shorts.

Naruto and Sasuke hadn't changed much either. Naruto was still loud, hyper, and…bright. He had grown quite a bit as well. He was now five foot eleven and nicely toned. Sasuke was still quiet, brooding, and…dark. He was six foot tall and pale as hell but just as toned as Naruto. _If either of them ever got in their minds to clean up once in a while after a mission they'd look awesome,_ Inner Sakura thought as Sakura snuck a peak at her teammates. Not that she actually cared; she had given up on Sasuke years ago. _Right…_ Inner Sakura never did believe her.

To be perfectly honest she hadn't seen either of the boys in almost six months. She had declined ANBU duty, but work at the hospital kept her going constantly and when she did get a day or two off she went on missions as one of the few medics to be placed with other Jounin teams. Naruto and Sasuke didn't see much of each other either. They weren't on the same ANBU team so missions done together were rare. On days when they were both in town and not training with either Jiraiya or Kakashi they would spar with each other… of course that hadn't happened in almost seven months. Naruto would speak with Lee and the others that had joined ANBU but other than that he normally didn't see any of the other Rookies in more than passing; Sasuke was even more of a recluse than he was.

Other than their dismal social lives Team 7 had done quite well for themselves. Sasuke and Naruto had become Chuunin six months after the disastrous first exam; Sakura had followed six months later. They remained Chuunin for only a year each before becoming Jounin much to the surprise of the village and the pleasure of their senseis. Naruto and Sasuke had joined ANBU almost immediately and she had begun working at the hospital.

She was currently considering taking on a Genin team like Tsunade had suggested, but she wasn't quite sure she wanted to just yet.

From the looks of it Sasuke (who had become an ANBU captain within a year of joining) would become head of the ANBU department within a year or two.

Naruto (who had become a captain within two years) was currently being pestered to retire and take a team. Tsunade had told him that the sooner he settled down and showed that he wasn't just in it for the excitement and challenge he just might become Hokage – Naruto had flipped her off before sticking out his tongue and walking out of the room (Jiraiya had laughed for days). Personally Sakura believed Tsunade just wanted to retire.

"That inconsiderate bastard!" someone shouted behind her causing Sakura to turn around and blink in surprise at Naruto. He usually didn't show off his growing vocabulary.

A poof above them caused the three Jounin to glance up at they're now grinning sensei. "YOU'RE LATE!" rang through the air with the combined voices not only of Naruto and Sakura but Sasuke as well. Kakashi blinked and then put on a hurt face to crouch on the banister near Sakura. "Now really I haven't seen you all together in almost seven months and this is how you greet me?" he asked pouting. Sakura rolled her eyes before shoving him off the bridge and into the river below (or would have if he hadn't caught himself and landed on the surface). Naruto snickered and walked over next to Sakura to look down at Kakashi; Sasuke joined them a moment later.

"You have better have a damn good excuse, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura growled still looking down at her sensei.

Kakashi nervously scratched the back of his head before jumping off of the river and back onto the banister. After some quick thinking he decided it probably wouldn't be safe to stay there so he jumped over them and landed on the bridge. His three ex-students turned to look at him skeptically. "Well you see Tsunade called a meeting this morning,"

"She finished the meeting with you four hours ago sensei. I met with her ten minutes after you left; we've been waiting for over three hours," Naruto said, causing Sasuke to smirk at his sensei.

"Ahh…" was Kakashi's only response. His students shook their heads and smiled at him.

"Well at least you haven't changed much," Sakura said. Kakashi grinned at her – at least she thought he did.

"Tsunade mentioned she gave you a mission for us," Naruto mentioned curiously.

Kakashi's grin faded and he looked at his students nervously. "You three aren't going to like this," he said. "Well Sakura might but you two won't," he added, pointing to Naruto and Sasuke.

"It better not be another D-class mission," Naruto muttered to himself.

"Another one?" Sasuke questioned his ex-teammate with a smirk.

"Yeah the damn old hag gave me one last week. When I was leaving she shouted that if I had a Genin team I could make them do it for me," Naruto said, glaring at the dark haired boy.

Sakura burst out laughing which made Naruto glare at her and pout at the same time. The combination looked utterly adorable but it wasn't very effective. "She must really be desperate," the pink haired girl managed to choke out while still laughing at her teammate.

"It's not a D-class mission," Kakashi said grinning at Naruto.

The blond breathed a sigh of relief at his sensei's statement. "Thank Kami, that old hag is really starting to have too much fun with this," Naruto stated.

"What does she want us to do?" Sasuke asked.

"Well you see, they have a slight problem in administration," he began while watching them closely. Luckily all three were used to Tsunade's 'problems' and they just grinned and shook their heads.

"As you know your clients pay a great deal for your services. In order to assure them that they are getting their money's worth before the mission is accomplished, Tsunade gives them a file on the shinobi that she/he/they are hiring," Kakashi said drawing blank looks from all three.

"What exactly is the problem?" Sakura asked.

"Well it turns out that these files are a bit outdated and it will take your help to revise them," he added, trying to brace the still confused shinobi in front of him.

"Get to the point sensei," Sasuke said impatiently.

Kakashi chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head again. "She needs to update your photographs," he said quietly.

"Well that's not a big deal," Naruto said, "We can go take new pictures now."

"It's not quite that easy," Kakashi said sighing.

"How out of date could they be that this assignment is a mission?" Sakura asked interrupting Kakashi.

_I hate you Tsunade,_ Kakashi thought before resigning himself to his fate. "The last time any of you had photos taken for administration was when you became Genin," he said, causing their jaws to drop.

"Are you telling me that my clients are seeing me as a twelve year old before they meet me?" Sakura shouted at him.

"I don't believe it," Sasuke said, looking at his sensei in shock, "How could she let this happen?"

Naruto on the other hand was rolling on the ground laughing. "Oh that's great," he choked out between giggles. "She probably didn't even realize she was supposed to update them or something, our clients probably thought they were hiring the village's geniuses seeing our records with a picture of a twelve year old," he suddenly sat up not realizing that the others were looking at him oddly. "Actually she might have done this on purpose. If the clients who hired us but never met us believed that we were like twelve and Jounin with our records it would have raised Konoha's reputation. Clever old hag," Naruto added grinning.

"Is it possible that Naruto's right?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

"Which part?"

"Either."

"Probably, he's the only one in the village with a brain anything like Tsunade's so he'd be the first to figure out her actions."

"What are you three talking about?" Naruto asked as he finally calmed down and stood up.

"Nothing," they answered simultaneously, causing Naruto to roll his eyes at them.

"So what's the mission then," Naruto asked.

"Ahh… well you see she's decided it would be best to retake team pictures as well for sentimental purposes," he stated.

"Okay, I still don't see how this is turning into a mission," Sasuke asked dubiously.

"We have to go shopping," he said. Sakura's face lit up and Naruto and Sasuke could only look back and forth between their sensei and female teammate in horror.

"Why?" Naruto whined.

"Because Tsunade wants us all to look very good for out clients," Kakashi said in explanation.

"We're shinobi not geisha, why should our clients care what we look like?" Naruto shouted back at him.

If it weren't for Tsunade's threat, Kakashi would have agreed with his former student whole heartedly; not to mention that Naruto was showing more intelligence today then he normally did in a week. "Yes well she also mentioned that our team photo would be placed prominently on her desk so that everyone who went in there would be able to see our best three young shinobi," he said quickly, trying to pacify the youth in front of him.

The compliment worked somewhat, but Naruto and Sasuke still looked miffed about the entire situation. Sakura's smile had grown and was honestly starting to scare him. "We have until Friday to get you three ready for the photos, after that Tsunade will tell us when they'll be taken," he said in explanation.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto ventured cautiously, "what exactly do you mean by…

'ready'?"

Kakashi grinned at him and patted the 'boy' on his head. "Tsunade said to do 'whatever you need' and I intend to just that," he said cryptically, causing both boys to back away. Sakura squealed happily and leered slightly at her teammates. _Didn't I just say a half hour ago that they would look awesome if they just cleaned up a bit?_ Sakura thought while Inner Sakura was shouting for joy.

"I'm going to kill that old hag," Naruto whispered, gaining a rigid nod from his black haired teammate.

"If this is another ploy to get you to take her job would you just do it already," he whispered back.

"She stuck us with an insane, multi-minded girl and a gay, tardy sensei," Naruto said, looking at the whispering duo in front of them. "She's not trying to get me to take her job; she's trying to make sure I don't live long enough to do so," he added hoarsely, backing away from Sakura and Kakashi.

All of sudden the two grinned and broke apart to turn on Naruto and Sasuke. Unfortunately for them the two Jounin had decided to preserve their sanity and had taken off.

Uproarious laughter could be heard from the Hokage's office for the rest of the day as Tsunade and Jiraiya watched Naruto and Sasuke try to evade their make-over crazed ex-sensei and teammate.

* * *

AN: Oh the joy! That was sooo much fun to write so I hope you all enjoy reading it. We'll see more of Team 7's escapades and check on the other teams for a while so enjoy!

On another note I just read through the past few chapters and realized that some of the info about ranks and placement was a bit confusing (which proves just how worthless last chapter really was).

Jounin-

ANBU: Sasuke (captain), Naruto (captain), Neji, Shikamaru (captain), TenTen, Shino

Sensei: Lee

Other: Sakura (medic

Chuunin –

Chouji, Kiba, Ino

Hinata (academy sensei)

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask. I'm not actually sure if this will help a lot (to be honest all you really need to know is the rank they are at now)


	6. Well That was Unexpected

AN: Reviews! Reviews! Yippee!

_Dual Rasengan_ glad you found it amusing. I found it amusing as well.

_Amaterasu-sama _I'm glad you've liked it so far and don't worry there won't be anything too mushy. I think with the boy/boy pairings I was more shocked that that was what decided whether or not they would read a fic I know plenty of people who aren't slash fan girls or boys but that normally doesn't deter them from reading stories with slash in them.

_Crazy-antman, hurrahhurrah_, _Night-Owl123, starry096_ laugh away at this as well. Also I'll try to keep the updates coming.

_Azamiko_ I'm glad you liked it so far. I'll definitely consider those suggestions. Oh… and I agree with you on the pairings.

_Ulitheal_ we'll see… thanks for the review and I'm glad you liked it.

_Only Secret_ from the looks of your review you found the past chapter as funny as I did. If that's the case you should enjoy this one as well.

_Cheeky brat_ no spandex whatsoever. Spandex is the spawn of Satan… just thought I should get that out of the way. I hope you keep laughing.

_Jubei Himura, Tombadgerlock _I'm glad you're enjoying this so far. _After the Dream_ is coming along as well (Chapter 14 should be out by the time you read this).

_Aligrl_ I'm glad you liked so much and you're right this is just something to read and enjoy without thinking too much with the exception of the ranks which even I still find confusing… Any way I reread my response to you the day after I posted and realized the name thing sounded weird. Just thought I should tell you that I have several friends named Ali so… yeah didn't mean to sound weird or anything sorry if I did.

_Krn-kimbap_ I'm glad you're enjoying. Team seven will definitely have fun with Tsunade and Jiraiya.

_Ayuka-chan_ ….that's a good question…I'll have to ask sometime.

_Xx-Tsumi-Chan-xx_ sorry you're sad about the couples; I hope you enjoy the story anyways. Hopefully this chapter will amuse you and take your mind off of it.

I think with the boy/boy pairings I was more shocked that that was what decided whether or not they would read a fic. I know plenty of people who aren't slash fan girls or boys but that normally doesn't deter them from reading stories with slash in them.

Another note on pairings: I'm not doing Naruto/Sakura either. This will probably have Sakura/Lee in it. I haven't decided if Naruto, Sasuke, or Asuma's team will have any pairings yet we'll all have to see how it goes.

Well I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I know I did. I got a bit drunk went to a dance all was good and fun. (Especially the hot gay boys that were dancing with each other and taking off shirts: Need I say more)

This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

* * *

**Picture Day**

Day two of shopping week dawned bright early. The sun greeted Konoha's shinobi warmly as they awoke to prepare for another day of missions.

For a small group of shinobi the dawn wasn't quite so welcome. Inuzuka Kiba grudgingly left his faithful companion Akamaru at home as he strolled off in search of his former team. Although the village was rather accommodating of his clan's companions, Kurenai had gently persuaded him that the pup's presence wasn't really necessary and that Akamaru would most likely grow bored. He had grumbled a bit but finally conceded when Hinata had asked him politely.

"Good morning Kiba-kun, Shino-kun" Hinata uttered as her teammates walked up to their meeting place.

"You're early this morning, Hinata," Shino said in greeting. She smiled back at him before turning to offer Kiba a shy smile as well.

"I hope you're all ready to get some shopping done," Kurenai said with a grin as she walked up to her team five minutes later. Shino shrugged in response; Hinata managed another quiet smile for her sensei; and Kiba managed to look disgruntled.

"I don't mind going shopping or anything once in a while, but why did we have to go so damn early," he whined.

Kurenai smirked at her former student before leaning in conspiratorially to answer. "The other teams all have the same assignment so I decided it would be best if we got a head start," she said. "Plus I talked to a friend of mine who runs a local boutique and she agreed to let us come in early so we can avoid the crowds and not waste our day," she added with a small shrug.

Kiba mulled this over for a minute before shrugging in concession. Kurenai smiled and turned around to lead the way. She paused when she heard a nearby bush rustle but continued on her way after deciding there were no threats.

Naruto sighed in relief as he watched the former members of Team 8 and their sensei walk away. He had been rudely awakened by Sakura before sunrise that morning and had been hiding from her ever since. He wondered vaguely if Sasuke was in a similar predicament before shrugging it off and scanning the area again. When saw no signs that he had been followed, Naruto crept out of his hiding place and took off down the road.

From his spot atop Ichiraku's, Sasuke saw Naruto creep out of the bushes and take off towards the forest. He quickly followed after his blond teammate hoping that together they would be able to evade the two less than sane members of the team. That and maybe they could make it to the training grounds; he hadn't had a challenging fight in months.

By noon that day Team 8 had finished shopping. To show her gratitude to her obliging students, Kurenai treated them to lunch. After they bid farewell to Hinata near the academy and Kiba left to meet up with Chouji to train, Shino and Kurenai headed to the Jounin meeting room. Shino wanted to speak with Shikamaru and Neji about missions; Kurenai just wanted to brag to the other former senseis. She doubted that even with the help they were receiving any of them would be finished already.

The two entered the room before splitting to speak with their respective parties. Kurenai ambled over to Gai, Asuma, and the rather frazzled Anko and Shizune who appeared to be trying to persuade the former two that they needed to get to work. Judging by the looks the rest of the room's occupants were sending them, the picture day and its requirements had become public knowledge. _This should make bragging even sweeter,_ Kurenai thought.

"Kurenai!" Gai shouted when she stopped next to him. "You appear most elated on this alluring, bewitching, and bountiful day. Please share with us, your esteemed colleagues, what undertaking has left you so indubitably exalted," he exclaimed loudly, managing to gain any attention that hadn't been focused on the group previously, which included Shino and the other rookies that were in the room.

_Naruto and Sasuke are no where to be seen; I wonder what Kakashi is doing with them,_ Kurenai pondered before turning to answer Gai's verbose inquiry. "My team is ready," she boasted straight to Asuma's face. Her proclamation only served to aggravate Shizune and Anko who turned back to Gai and Asuma attempting to coax the two men into bringing their teams shopping.

Asuma took a moment to glare at smirking Kurenai before endeavoring to assure Anko that his Team would be ready in time without spending the entire week visiting every shop and salon in the village. Gai on the other hand was busy trying to illustrate the benefits of spandex to a blushing Shizune. Most of the Jounin in the room just shook their heads and returned to their previous conversations.

The room's babble was interrupted a moment later when a rather harried blond skidded into the room. The Jounin could only watch in confusion as he glanced around quickly before jumping into one of the storage closets. A moment later Naruto popped his head out to hiss, "None of you saw me." The group's shock grew when an equally harassed looking Uchiha Sasuke mimicked his ex-teammate's actions a few moments later.

The unspoken questions were answered a few minutes later when Kakashi walked in the room and looked around. "Have any of you seen Naruto and Sasuke?" he asked. _Tsunade is going to kill me if I don't get those two taken care of,_ he thought praying someone in the room would be able to tell him where the two had gone. Many of the shinobi in the room contemplated ratting out the two but decided it wasn't worth the pain they would suffer for it later. Instead they shook their heads causing an exasperated silver haired Jounin to sigh and exit the room.

Several minutes after the door closed behind him, Naruto and Sasuke crept out of the closet and glanced around once before sighing in relief. They walked over to Neji and the others. "What was that about?" Shikamaru asked lazily.

"Kakashi and Sakura have gone insane over these stupid team pictures," Naruto grumbled.

"You're hiding from them?" Neji stated skeptically.

"You would too if you had someone as obsessive compulsive over appearances as Sakura hounding you," the blond answered.

"Do you even know what that means?" TenTen inquired. She giggled when the only response she received was a glare.

"So how long do you plan on hiding from them?" Shikamaru asked.

"As long as we can," Sasuke answered, glancing around the room again. His eyes widened in shock and both he and Naruto ducked behind the others when they saw Sakura walk in.

The pink haired Jounin glanced around the room once before sighing in frustration. "Have any of you seen Naruto or Sasuke lately?" she asked, collapsing into one of the chairs.

Naruto and Sasuke stiffened slightly and signaled for the others to lie. Unfortunately for them the others weren't feeling quite as threatened as earlier so they didn't remain blessedly silent. "They just came out of the closet," Neji said with smirk. Had he been watching he would have noticed both boys looking at him in horror.

It took most of the room a few moments to decipher the play on words but Sakura surprisingly just rolled her eyes and smiled. "About damn time," she muttered while shrugging at Neji.

"What?" Neji asked, wiping the smirk off his face and looking at her in confusion.

"I said about damn time. Did both of them come out or just one?" she asked after repeating her earlier statement. Naruto could only cover his face in his hands when he felt TenTen and Shikamaru trying not to laugh besides him.

"You don't seem surprised." TenTen stated while looking at the other girl incredulously but still trying not to laugh.

"Oh come on people how could it have been any sort of shock. I've known since I was like fourteen," she said, trying not to laugh at their naïveté.

"Did they tell you at that point?" Neji asked.

"No," Sakura said, "but it was painfully obvious."

"Well I didn't notice," TenTen said.

"How many other fourteen year olds do you know who won't even look at the hundreds of females practically throwing themselves at his feet. And as for Naruto how many other fourteen year olds do you know who would be able to spend that much time with Jiraiya and not be a pervert," she said as if stating the obvious. "What?" she asked when she noticed the shocked looks everyone was giving her. "If they just told you they were gay…"

"Actually Sakura, Neji was joking," Shikamaru said.

Sakura eyes widened in shock before she slowly stood up and took a breath, "Oh shit," she said.

"Sakura," Sasuke growled out as he stood from behind Neji. Sakura began edging towards the door. It only got worse when Naruto stood up and bit out, "Run."

"Genma," Sakura squeaked, "I don't think Kakashi-sensei would appreciate it if you let me be injured." Genma smirked and took step forward only to be stopped when Naruto turned to him.

"Genma if you take one more step I will personally see to it that you are never able to top again, is that understood?" the blond bit out while still glaring at his teammate. Genma froze and Sakura squeaked again when Sasuke lunged forward. The pink haired Jounin took off out the door and was quickly followed by both of her teammates.

The moment the door closed behind them laughter could be heard. "Kakashi, how long have you been here?" Kurenai asked in confusion.

"I snuck in through the window when Sakura came in," he managed to answer through his giggles.

"Shouldn't you go after them to make sure they don't kill Sakura?" Genma asked, crouching next to his lover and raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Hmm…" Kakashi hummed as he seemed to consider the other man's suggestion. "Oi, Lee," he said, turning to Mini-Gai, "You still like Sakura, right?"

"Yosh!" Lee shouted back in acknowledgement, "I will one day prove myself to my beautiful, delicate flower."

"Right…well you know now that Sasuke's gay and all, Sakura will most likely move her attention elsewhere and with that rival gone Naruto is probably going to take advantage of it. You should probably go after them to make sure Naruto doesn't win Sakura's heart before you," he slyly.

Lee's eyes widened momentarily (only serving to make him look even creepier) before flames began burning in them and he took on the Nice-Guy pose. "OH! My eternal rival is clever taking advantage of this situation. I shall give chase to win my fair flower's heart," he shouted before taking off out the door screaming, "I will save you from my rival's advances my lovely blossom!"

When it slammed shut behind him Kurenai turned to Kakashi and said incredulously, "Didn't Sakura say both her teammates were gay?"

"Well Lee obviously didn't catch that now did he," Kakashi added, grinning for a moment before cracking up again. A moment later the majority of the room joined him once everything that had just happened caught up to them.

In Tsunade's office the Hokage and the Toad Sennin were suppressing giggles while a mischievous glint began to shine in her eyes. This week was turning out to be more fun than she expected.

* * *

AN: I take back what I said last chapter; this one was the most fun I have ever had writing.

Oh and a few quick notes Sakura is just hypothesizing for the moment please don't yell at me about the joke.


	7. Think Before You Speak

AN:

Hmm… well this is a bit late. Sorry about that I lost the disk I had this saved on and didn't have time to really look for it until this afternoon. I promise the wait won't be this long for the next chapter.

Now on to all my lovely reviewers:

Before I respond to each of you personally I'm going to repost the note I gave you all on pairings maybe then I won't get all these hopeful reviews asking for Sakura/Sasuke and such. Not that I mind the reviews but I feel bad that people are still holding out for some of these pairings.

_Possible Pairings_: So far the only pairing in this fic is Genma/Kakashi. This chapter I'll introduce one more Sakura/Lee. I plan on using TenTen/Neji and Kiba/Hinata. I might hint at Asuma/ Kurenai but I haven't decided yet. I have not yet decided if I am going to use pairings in Asuma's team or with Naruto and Sasuke; we'll see as the story goes on.

_Impossible Pairings_: I'm just going to go ahead and say that I will not use Sakura/Sasuke or Naruto/Hinata in this fic. I'm not a big fan of either of them in general and they just really won't work with what I have planned. No Sasuke/Hinata or Naruto/Sakura either.

Just keep in mind that I am aiming to make this a humor fic which means pairings will mainly be used in humorous ways. Don't expect anything too deep here, though it will be well thought out.

:), _Azamiko,_ _Night-Owl123, hurrahhurrah,_ _Liliath, Vermillion Wolf, Queen Dopplepoppleous _I'm glad you found it so funny. This chapter is a bit more subdued but has its high points.

_Tombadgerlock_ it is… sort of. And yes Naruto is a complete pervert he just doesn't go peeping.

_Harukakanata,__moonlightpath, starry096, Stormraven, Jubei Himura, Ulitheal _I'm glad you liked it so far.

_Wolvesmon_ I'm gonna be honest here normally I'm really good at recognizing sarcasm but I'm kinda tired so I couldn't actually tell if you were being sarcastic or not. If you weren't then thank you; if you were ummm… my mind works in mysterious ways.

_krn-kimbap_ yes you see I found this nifty tool called a thesaurus and I've found that if I just use a lot of synonyms that are long and sound sophisticated it suddenly sounds like something they would say. I love the thesaurus.

_FireDragonBL_ I thought it would be funny if Naruto had a higher rank then him so I kept Neji out of the captain position. What's wrong with Kiba? He's one of my favorite characters.

_Kawaiineziumi_ see the note above.

_Only Secret_ well she was sort of joking. But I did state like two chapters ago that I wasn't going to pair her with her teammates. She's Lee's girl in this one.

_Ly_ I love you too. Thanks for the review and hope you love this one too.

_Garnet-Crystals_ I wouldn't mind either so we'll see.

_Yuki-chan_ I like the way you think. Hope you like this chapter.

_Shirubi-chan_ well I told you it would be. This isn't exactly ASAP in its usual meaning but it is here… finally.

_Crazy-antman_ well Sasuke is as we learn in this chapter; I honestly haven't decided if Naruto is yet. Hopefully you'll like it anyway like I said above pairings aren't actually that important in this story.

This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

* * *

**Picture Day**

For the first and only time that week it was Sakura trying to hide from her teammates and not the other way around. Unfortunately for her, they also happened to be just a bit faster and better at tracking due to their service with ANBU; her medical career left her a bit lacking in that area. After only twenty minutes they had the girl breathless and cornered at the edge of the forest right outside the village.

Sakura slowly backed up until her back hit a tree; she gulped audibly and Sasuke smirked in front of her. "It was a joke?" she offered, laughing weakly.

"Joke or not, do you have any idea what you just did? You just told an entire room I was gay," he said glaring at her.

"Maybe they won't believe me," she said nervously as Sasuke stood barely a foot away glaring menacingly. It didn't help that Naruto was in the background torn between glaring at her, cheering Sasuke on, and laughing at their current predicament.

"Of course they're going to believe you; you know me better than almost everyone else," Sasuke shouted, trying not to lose his temper any more than he already had.

"Well maybe they'll assume I was just hypothesizing I mean my reasoning-" Sakura started before Sasuke cut her off.

"If those people haven't forgotten about what you said in two days I swear-"

"Dude chill out," Naruto responded cautiously, trying to calm the other man down. Sasuke turned to glare at him and Naruto held up his hands in surrender. "It's not like it's the end of the world; I mean shinobi are accepting of pretty much everything," he said patiently.

"Kakashi and Genma is one thing," Sasuke said glaring, "the last Uchiha is another matter completely."

"Sasuke I'm sorry," Sakura said before a geen blur appeared in front of her.

"Do not fear my beautiful healer of the brave," Lee said, looking back and forth between Sakura's very confused teammates. "I shall save you from the unwanted advances of my eternal rival," he said, causing Naruto to groan and rub his forehead in irritation

"Thick brows now is really not the time for all this eternal rival thing. It's one thing to play along with it in front of your students and stuff but now-" Naruto was cut off almost immediately by Lee's boisterous shouting.

"No, I will not let your honey coated words dissuade me. I will not let you take advantage of Sakura-san now that one of my rivals has stepped down. I may not have been able to defeat the great Uchiha in my bid for Sakura's heart but I can triumph over you," Lee said ending in his Nice-guy pose. He didn't notice Sakura and Sasuke flinch at the declaration 'great Uchiha'.

Naruto blinked twice before shaking his head. "Whatever I'm gonna go," Naruto said walking away. Lee grinned in victory but Naruto's teammates watched worriedly as he walked away.

"Lee that was the stupidest thing you could have said," Sasuke bit out looking at Gai's prodigy angrily.

"Eh?" was Lee's intelligent reply.

"Lee I appreciate what you were trying to do, but you really need to think before you say stuff like that," Sakura said, looking at him sadly.

"Eh?" Lee repeated, looking back in forth between his lovely, delicate, shining- uh, Sakura and her teammate Sasuke.

"Naruto got over his crush years ago. The only reason he goes along with the whole eternal rival thing about fighting for my heart is because he thinks it's fun. Also you just insulted him when you said he wasn't anywhere near the threat the 'great Uchiha' was," Sakura responded sadly.

Lee's face fell when he realized what Sakura had said. "I apologize my lovely apple of youth I shall go after my eternal rival and-"

"Don't bother. You can repay him by keeping Sakura off his back for the rest of the day," Sasuke said as a plan began forming in his head.

Lee thought for a moment before looking at Sasuke. "How would I serve this atonement for my most lamentable, contemptuous affront?" Lee asked, gazing at the black haired ANBU.

"Just take her out on a date or something," Sasuke said, walking away.

"Yosh!" Lee shouted giving his Nice-guy look to Sasuke's back. Sakura rolled her eyes at the other boy's antics before she was swept off her feet. "If Naruto requires a recess from the most wonderful-"

"Lee," Sakura said interrupting, "Let's just go get some ramen."

"Yosh!" he said before taking off.

Later that day found Sakura, Lee, and the others (with the exception of Naruto and Sasuke) gathered at the barbeque restaurant enjoying dinner together. "So big forehead girl," Ino started smirking at Sakura, "Are you and Lee on a date?"

Lee blushed and sputtered trying to correct the blond but Sakura just smiled. "Yes, what about you?" she responded politely, picking up a piece of meat. Ino's jaw dropped but several others smiled and laughed; Lee stared openly Sakura before blushing even more and giving a sign of victory.

"So exactly where are your teammates?" TenTen asked smiling.

Sakura's eyes widened a bit and she made silencing motions at the bunned girl across from her.

"Yeah where are Naruto and Sasuke. I know Sasuke doesn't usually hang out with us but we do have the week off and Naruto never misses a chance to eat," Chouji added looking at her curiously.

"They're hiding," Sakura mumbled.

"Hiding?" Kiba shouted incredulously.

"They don't want to go through the trouble of all the preparations for the pictures," Sakura said sighing.

"What preparations?" Kiba asked, "We already went shopping and got everything done this morning," he said.

"Yes well Naruto and Sasuke haven't taken care of themselves as much as they should. Plus Tsunade seems to be up to something because apparently she threatened Kakashi-sensei about how good our pictures have to look," Sakura responded.

Neji smirked before finally asking, "So was what you said today true?"

Sakura looked at him in horror for bringing up the topic she had been trying to avoid. "They're going to kill me," she said, dropping her head to the table.

"Why?" TenTen asked in confusion. "I mean I understand it was a bit of an odd time for that to come out, but it isn't that big of deal," she added.

"It is for Sasuke," Sakura said.

"Why for him and not Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because I know it's actually true for Sasuke. I was actually hoping that I could get Naruto to say something but he didn't," Sakura said exasperatedly.

"Um? Guys what are you talking about?" Ino asked.

"Sasuke's gay," Neji said still smirking.

Sakura banged her head on the table several more times before sitting up and rubbing her forehead. "You just had to say something didn't you," she said, glaring at the Hyuuga genius.

"Figures," Ino said sighing. "What were you saying about Naruto?" she asked.

"Nothing," Sakura said, waving her hand in dismissal

"You're handling this rather well," TenTen said looking at Ino.

"Oh come on I tried to seduce him for almost three years and I never even got a second glance," she quipped looking at the other girl. Sakura and Hinata just smiled as TenTen started laughing out loud.

"Oi Sakura," Kakashi said, walking into the restaurant and interrupting the ongoing conversation, "Where are Naruto and Sasuke?"

"I don't know," Sakura replied honestly.

"Well they chased you out of the staffroom this afternoon; how exactly did you lose track of them?" he asked.

"Naruto got pissed off and took off. Sasuke left a few minutes later after telling Lee to take me to lunch," she said.

"Fine. I'll wake up Naruto tomorrow since he got away from you this morning. You get Sasuke," he said turning to go quickly.

"Sensei," Sakura asked, looking at Kakashi suspiciously, "didn't Sasuke get away from you as well?"

Kakashi shrugged before teleporting out of the restaurant leaving only a puff of smoke behind. "Damn him," she said, sighing and leaning back.

"Can I just say that he is one of the weirdest people I have ever met," TenTen said, looking at the area Kakashi had just vacated, "and I have Lee and Gai on my team," she added.

Sakura shrugged. "You get used to it after a while I guess," she said.

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"Do you know what Tsunade's up to?" Sasuke asked, walking up behind his teammate. He had left the other boy alone for the entire afternoon, but honestly moping for four hours was a bit much for the boisterous blond and it had to be stopped.

"No," Naruto said curtly, turning to Sasuke with a small pout on his face. Sasuke fought the urge not to laugh.

"You cannot honestly still be angry about what Lee said earlier," Sasuke stated looking at the blond. Naruto rolled his eyes and turned back around to stare out over the city from his spot on the academy's roof.

If Sasuke's memory served him right, which it normally did, then this was where they had first spoken with Kakashi-sensei when they had become Genin. This was where Team 7 had been formed. Where they had established themselves as a group that wouldn't be torn. Where they had revealed their dreams to each other and silently vowed to help each other accomplish them. _We also insulted and declared that we hated each other,_ Sasuke thought wryly, causing a smirk to grow on his face.

Naruto turned around again when he heard Sasuke chuckle lightly; when he saw the distant look in his teammate's eyes he rolled his own and ignored the raven haired boy who was obviously reliving some triumphant moment of his past. _Bastard better not be laughing about the time he beat me in the Chuunin Exam final round,_ he thought with a small scowl.

Sasuke's memories continued to drift through his early years on Team 7. The bell test, the disastrous mission to Wave Country, and then their first Chuunin Exam had all brought the team closer together…_and closer to killing each,_ he thought. After the first Exam when Naruto had brought Tsunade back, her first action had been to remove Orochimaru's curse seal; well right after she had healed Kakashi and himself from the wounds Itachi had inflicted on them.

After that she had sent him away with Kakashi to train; Naruto had spent the next several months training with Jiraiya; and Sakura had trained with Tsunade and her assistant Shizune. When he had come back the three had taken the Chuunin Exam together as had Kurenai's team and Gai's team. Asuma hadn't nominated his team because they lacked a third member and he didn't believe Ino and Chouji were quite ready for that advancement.

All three teams had made it through the first two tests with a great deal of success. Hinata, Sakura, TenTen, Lee and Kiba had been knocked out during the elimination round. Naruto had been forced to face Sakura, but Sasuke had had the pleasure of putting Kiba in his place. One month later after the two had trained with Jiraiya, Kakashi, and even Tsunade (for a few trump cards) they ended up meeting in the final of the third exam. Nearly an hour after the fight began – they beat the previous record for longest fight by almost half an hour – Naruto lost when he refused to tap into the Kyuubi's chakra for what he termed a 'friendly fight'. _Friendly my ass,_ Sasuke thought; _we nearly killed each other in the two clashes between the Rasengan and the Chidori. I still have no idea how I managed to be less injured than him after that fight._

Sasuke finally came out of his thoughts only to realize that it was already dark out. Naruto was standing against the railing about ten feet away smirking at his absent minded teammate. "So how did you get Sakura off our backs?" he asked.

Sasuke smirked. "I told Lee you would consider it an appropriate apology if he took her on a date and kept her busy for the day," he responded.

Naruto grinned and collapsed laughing. Sasuke rolled his eyes at the blond before walking over and helping him stand. "Come on if neither of us gets any sleep tonight we won't be able to run from Kakashi and Sakura tomorrow," he said, turning to walk away.

Naruto was still grinning like an idiot as he walked home.

In the Hokage's office Tsunade, Jiraiya, and the elders were crowded around a crystal ball watching as the two ex-teammates separated for the night. "Damn," Tsunade whispered.

"Pay up," Jiraiya said back, "I told you it would take longer than a day."

Tsunade grumbled and dug into her wallet. _Damn brat, I'm losing bets because of you it better be worth it in the end,_ she thought putting away her little secret. If it weren't for that crystal ball all the crap she put him through wouldn't be anywhere near as fun. _Of course it's still amusing to see him in person when I tell him to find Tora,_ she thought smirking as she walked back to her residence.

* * *

AN: Hope you enjoy the next chapter should be up in like two days to make up for the long wait for this one. Once again I'm sorry about that. Review! 


	8. What Are They Up To?

AN:

I'm really sorry to everyone who got confused at the end of the last chapter. Tora is the cat Team 7 has to find; it's the first of their missions that is shown and I've always found it funny. Again sorry for the confusion

Reviews:

_Jubei Himura,_ _starry096, Night-Owl123, Tombadgerlock, moonlightpath _I'm glad you liked. Once again sorry it was so late.

_Only Secret, crazy-antman_ I'm glad you found it so funny.

_Vermillion Wolf_ we'll see. What would you prefer?

_Ly_ I never said it wouldn't be just that I haven't decided. I'm sure I'll make up my mind soon. Thanks for all the complements.

_Shirubi-chan_ no offense taken. Not all of them are going to be as funny as 5 and 6 (my personal favorites, but hopefully they weren't that boring. Each chapter should have a few funny parts but when they don't focus on Team 7 together they won't be quite so funny.

_Lizzenly_ um yeah like I said above not all chapters are going to be as funny as chapters 5 and 6. Diverse pairing? I'm not quite sure what that means but I hope it isn't bad. Anyway the hints are there for you to take as you please. I really haven't even decided if Naruto is gay so if it isn't your thing just take it as friendship.

_Aikei-chan_ nothing wrong with sugar cookies. Hope you continue to enjoy! As to the second note it's always a possibility and what they were betting on is up to the reader for now wink.

_A reviewer _umm…sorry? First off I wouldn't even go as far as to call it romance. Secondly the set up for this story is being told as the story goes along; Sasuke didn't tell Lee to take Sakura out for no reason. I hope you continue reading anyways shrugs.

_Hurrahhurrah_ noooo! Don't disappear sniffles. I'm glad you liked it.

This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

* * *

**Picture Day**

"Ahh…my beautiful associate," Gai shouted as Shizune walked up to meet them on the third morning of Tsunade's wicked picture week.

Shizune yawned a bit and noticed Neji and TenTen were actually asleep standing up and leaning on each other. "Gai, your enthusiasm is to be applauded," Shizune muttered. "But why did we have to start so early?" she asked looking at him sleepily.

"Well yesterday you seemed most aggrieved that we had not already finished with our task as the beautiful Kurenai has so I thought we should get a fresh start this wondrous morning," Gai explained happily.

"Yes well couldn't we have gotten a fresh start at noon instead of six?" TenTen asked sleepily. Shizune noticed that the girl had inched away from Neji and appeared to have small blush on her face. The Hyuuga appeared stoic as ever but even without pupils it was fairly obvious that his eyes were on his teammate.

"Kakashi you damn pervert," rang through the streets a moment later preventing Shizune from thinking about the situation between the two any further.

Not a minute later Naruto streaked by wearing nothing but a pair of pajama pants. He was pursued just seconds later by Kakashi who appeared to be trying not to laugh.

Once the two had disappeared the group looked at each other in silence for a moment before Neji smirked. "Damn," TenTen whispered, "When did Naruto get a body?" Neji's smirk immediately disappeared and he glanced at TenTen.

Shizune fought the urge not to laugh at the two before finally turning back to Gai and Lee. "Well since we're here we might as well get started," she said, clapping her hands and smiling as sweetly as she could. _Hopefully we'll be finished by noon then I can make sure Tsunade actually goes to all her meetings today. I don't know what she's been up to for the past two days but she hasn't done anything,_ Shizune continued walking and glancing at the various shops along the main street trying to find the one that would suit them. _Actually I haven't heard anyone complain about Jiraiya either, and yesterday the elders missed several appointments later in the day. I hope nothing serious has happened,_ she pondered before quickly spotting the store she had in mind.

"Here we are," she said, ushering the group into the small boutique. She had given this a great deal of thought and had finally decided that Neji wouldn't wear anything that didn't look classy, TenTen most likely wouldn't appreciate looking too girly, and Lee and Gai well maybe she'd give them green ties to soothe them over.

"Take some time to look around and find something you think you'll be comfortable wearing," she said, pointing each in the right direction. "Once you've done that we'll work with it and try to coordinate the four of you a bit," she added seeing Gai's confused look. TenTen and Neji both nodded and looked around before separating to browse the clothing.

_This is a bit more formal then I'm comfortable with,_ TenTen thought looking at the various skirts and nice blouses scattered primly on the racks. She smirked when she saw several shirts with mandarin collars; _well she did say something I'd be comfortable,_ she thought smirking down at the shirt she was wearing.

An hour later TenTen and Neji were interrupted my screaming on the other side of the room. "Gai-sensei," Lee shouted looking at his teacher with tears in his eyes.

"Lee-kun," Gai shouted back just as enthusiastically and tearfully.

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee-kun!"

And so it went for nearly five minutes as Shizune stood off to the side watching with a slightly dazed look on her face. TenTen and Neji finally wandered over trying to figure out what was going on.

"Ah…" TenTen said when she finally saw what the two were wearing. Neji smirked and looked over at Shizune to see that she had finally come out of her daze.

"Do you two think we could work around it with your outfits?" she asked looking at them. "They seem pretty attached to what they found," she added shrugging.

"I think we can work something out," TenTen said, grinning at Neji.

"Good!" Shizune replied clapping her hands together.

Two hours later Gai, Shizune Gai's team walked out of the small boutique. TenTen was still grinning as she heard Gai and Lee lavishing each other with compliments in the background. "Hmm… do you think we could get them to get haircuts?" Shizune asked. TenTen and Neji glancing back at the dynamic duo that had unfortunately reverted to their green spandex bodysuits.

"Not a chance," TenTen replied. "I tried to talk Lee into once it took me an hour to calm him down," she added seeing Shizune's confused look. Shizune shook her head in amusement.

"Then there was the time-" whatever she was going to say was cut off when Naruto ran by accidentally knocking her over. "Sorry," he shouted without turning around. A moment later Sakura ran after him she spared the group only a glance taking the time to shout back, "I hope you got everything finished and Lee looks nice for the pictures and congratulations TenTen."

TenTen watched in confusion as the other girl retreated before giggles brought her back down to earth. She turned to see Shizune watching her and laughing she realized why a moment later when she found that she was in fact not on the ground. "Neji!" she squeaked before quickly jumping up and turning to help her teammate to his feet. "I'm so sorry," she apologized.

Neji simply shook his head and stood up. He glanced over at Gai and Lee and was thankful to find both still lost in their own little world. Although he did notice that Gai was now congratulating Lee on getting Sakura. _I don't know how those two are able to remain so oblivious,_ he thought turning back to TenTen who was still apologizing profusely. "It was an accident. You have no reason to apologize," he said, trying to calm her down.

TenTen tried not to blush and turned away; of course it didn't help that she was now facing the laughing Shizune. "Shut up," she mumbled pathetically causing Shizune to lose it.

"I'm sorry," Shizune said trying to regain her composure. She had almost succeeded when Naruto ran by again. _I wonder when he had time to stop and get dressed,_ she wondered vaguely. This time the blond was being followed by both Kakashi and Sakura. "Either Sasuke was already caught or they've given up on him," she mused aloud. TenTen nodded appearing much calmer thanks to the slight distraction the blond had offered.

"Well," Shizune said looking away from Naruto's fleeing figure and back to the group. "I suppose I owe all of you lunch for getting so much done today and cooperating so well," she said smiling.

"Nonsense," Gai shouted giving her the Nice Guy pose, "It is we who owe you lunch for offering us your most prolific and trendy fashion advice. With your help my team shall surely look better than my rivals when this day for photographs arrives.

"We will unquestionably be the most dapper and dashing of teams on that glorious day," Lee added in agreement.

Shizune blinked twice before responding. "It was really no trouble," she mumbled blushing.

"Now, allow me to treat you all to lunch," Gai said smiling brightly; Shizune was tempted to shade her eyes from the glare. As the five walked towards a restaurant Shizune swore she heard Gai mumble, "Beat that my eternal rival. My team was finished second and on only the second day while you still chase your most aggrieving students through the village." _I wonder if the other villages have shinobi as weird as ours. Gaara isn't so much weird as homicidal, and when you think of it Itachi and Orochimaru both originated in Konoha. Yeah we're definitely the weirdest,_ she concluded absentmindedly.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

"Hmmm… we'll probably have to break up soon," Tsunade said.

"Eh?" was Jiraiya's ever intelligent reply.

"I expected Shizune to be busy most of the week but from the looks of that last passing Gai's team is already finished. As soon as Shizune comes back she'll probably make me do work," Tsunade replied reaching for a bottle of sake.

"Well just because she's making you do work doesn't mean we can't stay here and watch," Jiraiya replied stupidly.

"She'll tell their assistants," Tsunade answered, pointing at Koharu and Homura. "And don't think for a moment I'm leaving you with this unattended," she said to Jiraiya; the white haired Sennin groaned and rolled his eyes in return.

"Do you think Shizune could be convinced to join us?" Koharu asked innocently.

Tsunade appeared in deep thought for several minutes before Jiraiya nudged her. "What?" she asked brashly turning to look at him.

"Well, could we convince Shizune?" he asked reiterating Koharu's question.

"Convince of her of what?" Tsunade replied reaching for another sake bottle.

"Okay I think you've had enough for this morning," Homura said taking pity on his late friend's student and removing the tempting sake away from her.

"Humph," Tsunade replied scowling at the ancient elder in front of her. "What are we supposed to be convincing Shizune of then?" she finally asked.

"If she'll join us instead of making us all work," Jiraiya said.

"You mean making the three of us work?" Tsunade replied, delicately raising an eyebrow.

"Right," Jiraiya responded.

Tsunade once again appeared in deep thought, luckily this time she was thinking about the right topic. _Well I suppose if I promised…no that wouldn't work. Hmmm…maybe… oh yes that will definitely work,_ Tsunade thought as wicked grin appeared on her face. "Gentlemen and Lady I have an idea that just may work," she declared proudly.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

After lunch Lee, Neji, and TenTen headed over to Ichiraku's. They had agreed to meet the others there for lunch but since they had already eaten they were a bit late. One glance around the place and Neji already knew that Team 7 was still running rampant around the village. The three had just taken seats by the rookies when Sakura came in panting. "Hey guys," she said slipping in next to Lee.

"Aren't you supposed to be chasing after your teammates?" Ino asked grinning at her.

"Yeah about that," Sakura said grinning at the others, "Anyone want to help?"

"Too troublesome," Shikamaru replied.

"You say that about everything," Ino stated glaring at him; Shikamaru shrugged.

Kiba grinned widely before asking, "Can we use force?"

"It is not likely that you would be able to land a blow on either of them," Shino stated, looking at a now glaring Kiba.

"You can use force," Sakura said still smiling sweetly.

"I'll help starting tomorrow," Kiba responded still glaring at Shino.

"I'll help as long as I can embarrass the two of them," TenTen added grinning.

"As long you don't mention Sasuke being gay it doesn't matter," Sakura said. A moment later the group looked up startled when they heard the flap rustle a bit. They were just in time to see Naruto fleeing in the other direction. "Well that's my cue to go," Sakura said rushing out of the restaurant. _Honestly this really is too troublesome;_ she thought when she saw Naruto already turning the corner at the end of the street. _Hopefully Kakashi-sensei is having more luck._

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

Shizune knocked lightly on Tsunade's office and waited politely for the Hokage to call her in. After five minutes, during which she thought she heard whispering; Tsunade finally called out softly, "Come in Shizune." The Hokage's assistant probably should have been suspicious that Tsunade knew it was her at the door, but she was a bit too distracted.

In fact she was so distracted that it wasn't until she was in front of the Hokage's desk that she noticed how dark it was in the room. She glanced up in confusion and became even more baffled when she saw Jiraiya and the elders sitting next to Tsunade.

"Have a seat, Shizune," Tsunade stated, graciously waving her hand toward the straight backed chair that had been placed in front of the Hokage's desk. "We need to have a little chat," Tsunade added grinning. Shizune gulped and sat down slowly taking in the overly pleased faces of all four. _What are they up to?_ She thought as she waited for them to speak.

* * *

AN: hmmm… I liked this chapter. It wasn't quite as funny as the others but hopefully the blushing TenTen will make some people happy.

You know what would be really funny; what if I just never described anyone's outfits? Oh, I'd get kick out of that just giving little hints and tidbits but then leaving the rest up to your imaginations. That could be very fun (_snickers evilly_).


	9. Why Is Everyone So Crazy?

AN:

**Moonlightpath, FireDragonBL, Azamiko, Shirubi-chan** I'm glad you like it.

**Boredathome,****Ly, harukakanata,** **Night-Owl123, hurrahhurrah** here's more, hope you enjoy it.

**Fushigi Shonen** (_whistles innocently_) we'll see.

**Vermillion Wolf,** **L.Mc'Clown, Alana-StarSugarCat, esther** hopefully you'll find this one amusing as well.

**The essence of popsicles** not a fan of Sakura/Lee eh? Well I can't take it out but don't worry too much because it isn't like the story will focus on it. I checked my old chapters after I read your note on stated and I did find it used incorrectly in one so I apologize.

**Kubikiritenken** but that would make it way too easy. It's more fun to make them suffer a bit first.

**Sleepy kitty** well I'm definitely not making all the guys gay and it really only gets mentioned a few times a chapter in jokes.

**Crazy-antman** indeed it is. Indeed it is.

**Wraith** well I still haven't decided but I'll be honest I usually see that as proof that he is.

This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

* * *

**Picture Day**

"Akamaru come on; we don't have time to goof off this morning," Kiba said as he and his faithful pup walked along Konoha's lovely lanes. Just yesterday he had been given permission to use force against Naruto and Sasuke. _Hehehe… those two are in for it today,_ he thought. "Seriously Akamaru, it isn't like we're going to find Naruto up a tree," he said, walking over to his 'pup'. Akamaru was currently sniffing around the trunk of a tall bushy tree along the edge of the road, and he looked quite affronted by Kiba's comment. "Look I'm sorry but I've been waiting almost five years to get those two back for beating me and you're not helping…" he trailed off as he followed his dog's line of sight.

Akamaru looked quite smug when Kiba looked back down at his dog in disbelief. "What the hell?" he muttered, glancing back up and clearing his eyes a bit to make sure they weren't fooling him. Just in case they still were he sniffed a bit and sure enough the figure in the tree was quite real. "Oi, Naruto," Kiba shouted shaking the blond from his slumber. "What are you doing up there?" he asked when the blond cracked an eye open just enough to look down at him.

Naruto sighed and fought the temptation to beat the shit out Kiba for disturbing his rest. "I'm sleeping so go away; go bother Hinata or something," Naruto finally said before closing his eyes again.

"Why exactly are you sleeping in a tree?" Kiba asked, smirking up at the blond.

Naruto opened his eyes and sat up looking down at Kiba suspiciously. He looked around at his surroundings and noticed that the normally busy street was still empty with the exception of the two of them, well three of them if he included Akamaru… no four; he could sense Sasuke in one of the nearby trees. _It's way too early for him to be awake unless he's up to something,_ Naruto thought still watching Kiba. "Sakura and Kakashi have snuck into my apartment to wake me up for the past two days so I figured I'd avoid them and start hiding early," the Kyuubi's gracious vessel said cautiously.

"Why are you hiding from them?" Kiba said, trying not to crack up. A moment later he was pinned to the tree by an upside down Naruto.

"She has you working for them doesn't she," Naruto said, glaring at the other boy.

Kiba finally lost it. "I cannot," he gasped out trying to avoid being injured while still laughing, "believe…that you," he started laughing harder, "are running…from… Sakura… just… to avoid…going shopping," he finally finished before collapsing into laughter on the ground. A moment later he was joined by Akamaru and Naruto scowled at the two. _I can't believe that this idiot and his dog are laughing at me. It isn't that funny,_ he thought mentally pouting at the two still lost in their giggles. The blond sighed and jumped back up into the tree before taking off.

When Kiba finally regained his sanity a few minutes later, all he could do is look around the street in confusion before looking down at Akamaru. "Where'd he go?" he asked his furry friend.

Sasuke could only watch in amusement from another tree as Kiba and Akamaru walked down the street still conversing. He, like Naruto, hadn't given either his teammate or his sensei the chance to wake him that morning. Unlike Naruto, he hadn't given them the chance to wake him the previous morning either. Sasuke had spent the day running around town trying to find Naruto so the two could spar. Unfortunately, with him hiding so well Naruto had been hounded all day by both Sakura and Kakashi, which made it impossible to reach the blond. _He's going to kill me when I find him later,_ Sasuke thought with a slight grimace.

"Hello Sasuke," a feminine voice shouted into his ear.

Sasuke grabbed his ear and was ready to turn around and shout at Sakura when he realized it hadn't been his pink haired teammate after all. "TenTen," he said, looking around nervously and backing up, "what are you doing here?"

"Well I had today off and was wondering if you knew where Naruto was. You see I think I messed up on our last mission and I wanted to discuss it with him," she said innocently while fondling one of her many knives.

"Haven't seen him lately," Sasuke said placing his usual scowl back on his face.

TenTen studied him for a moment before shrugging. "Oh well, I'll look elsewhere then and don't worry most of us will go after Naruto because it's sure to be funnier," she said. TenTen grinned at Sasuke for a moment before launching the kunai at him. He dodged the kunai by jumping out of the tree and onto the rooftop below. "Found him," TenTen shouted from her spot in the tree.

A moment later Sakura and Kakashi appeared on the rooftop where Sasuke had landed. "Damn," Sasuke muttered before taking off with Sakura and Kakashi right behind them.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

Half way across the village Naruto was about to run into his worst nightmare; a nightmare that went by the name of Mitarashi Anko. Luckily for Naruto he wasn't the only one distracted that morning or their collision could have been much worse. As it was the two managed to pass by each other without incident; something that almost never happened when the two loudmouth Jounin collided.

While Naruto went on his merry way attempting to avoid not only his sensei and teammate but the majority of the other rookies as well, Anko was on her not so merry way to meet up with Asuma and Team 10. _Damn that man,_ she thought walking to the appointed meeting place. _Gai and Kurenai have already finished and yet he still says that there's no need to hurry,_ she mused a bit more as she studied the street around her just barely catching a glimpse of yellow hair as it dashed around the corner. _At least Kakashi hasn't gotten his team taken care, _she added as a small smirk formed on her face, _if only I could get Asuma and his team finished so that I could watch the fun. I hear Tsunade's practically having a party with this whole thing._

Anko's train of thought ended when she arrived to find Asuma and his team waiting patiently for her. "Well then," Anko said grinning at them a bit evilly, "Let's get started." And with that they set off down the road.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

Several hours later Chouji began asking politely for a lunch break. "But I'm starving," he whined.

"Well if Shikamaru would get off his lazy ass and participate we could finish a lot sooner," Ino griped, sitting about five feet away talking with Anko. Next to the women sat a pile of shopping bags and they would occasionally look up and point to other items. Finally about half an hour later Ino stood up. "Alright Shikamaru if you agree to try on one last thing we should be finished with the shopping," she said, walking over to her teammate.

"Too troublesome," Shikamaru said, waving her away with his hand.

"Nara Shikamaru," a black haired woman shouted walking up behind Shikamaru. The shadow user jumped when he heard the woman and spun around. "Stop giving your teammates so much trouble. It wouldn't kill you to actually put a bit of effort into something for once and I'm expecting you to look nice and make a good impression with these new photos," she continued.

Shikamaru mumbled under his breath and sat back down before muttering, "Yes, Mom."

"Good, now stop being so disagreeable and giving Ino-chan so much trouble. She's put up with you two for years and you do nothing but give her grief," Shikamaru's mom said, turning around and smiling once at a rather surprised Ino and smug Anko.

"Yeah, yeah," Shikamaru muttered again looking at his mother oddly. His mother nodded once and turned to walk out of the store. Shikamaru grudgingly stood up and took the pile of clothes that Ino pointed to and took off into the changing room.

Anko grinned at Ino, Chouji, and Asuma before disappearing out the door to where Shikamaru's mom was standing. "I take back anything I've ever said against you kid," she said grinning as 'Shikamaru's mom' dropped his henge and turned back into Naruto.

"Yeah, yeah, just keep your promise. Make sure Team 10 doesn't join with the search," he said turning to walk away.

"Will do brat, good luck avoiding your pursuers," Anko shouted as Naruto took off down the street. She wasn't positive but she was fairly sure that the black figure that began following him a moment later wasn't anyone who would turn him in. When the two disappeared she giggled and walked back inside and straight into a very annoyed Shikamaru.

"Very funny," he said causing Anko to grin.

"Well the good news is that outfit is perfect for you so we're finished for the day and Chouji can go eat," Anko said, bobbing her head in a nod and grinning wider. Shikamaru grumbled and sat back down next to Chouji trying to ignore Ino as she began laughing. "Alright you three can change back keep what you've picked out and good luck later," Anko said turning to leave. "Oh by the way," she said turning back around, "You three can't chase after Naruto or Sasuke for the rest of the week," she added smiling nervously.

Ino's laughter stopped and Chouji looked up in disappointment. "But that's what everyone else is going to be doing and it'll be fun to torture those two," Ino said pouting a bit.

"Well," Anko said, glancing from side to side suspiciously before looking at them and grinning wickedly. "If you really want to get in on the fun go up to Tsunade's office. She's been spying on those two all week as they've been trying to avoid Sakura and Kakashi. I'm not sure how I just know that she's had Jiraiya, Homura, and Koharu with her since yesterday and a couple of others joined them today. I doubt she'll mind the extra company," she said causing all three members of Team 10 and their sensei looked up in interest.

"Count us in," Ino said, grinning almost wickedly as Anko.

"I knew I'd have fun today," Anko said grinning back.

Shikamaru, Chouji, and Asuma exchanged nervous glances. Allowing Anko and Ino to bond was probably the worst thing ever to happen to Konoha. _Why is everyone here so crazy?_ Chouji wondered as he watched the two women grin at each other. _The other villages can't have shinobi like we do,_ he thought looking out at the street and the many shinobi walking by. _Then again that's probably a good thing,_ he added mentally as Naruto and Sasuke streaked by followed closely by Sakura and Kakashi.

* * *

AN:

Yeah and before anyone says anything when I say "streaked" I mean ran quickly not what crazy drunk fans do when they run across soccer fields naked.

Well that was fun. I know, I know still not as funny but hopefully you were still amused. I'm starting to curse myself for writing chapter 5 and 6, now you guys seem to have really high expectations. Oh well.

Also I'll probably eventually describe their clothing but ummm…I'm not really in a creative mood right now so I'll work on that as we get closer to the end. Seriously this was only supposed to be like ten chapters long and now it's looking more like around twenty. I've got two weeks left in school but after that I'll have more time to write so this'll probably be finished by the middle of May. Enjoy it while it lasts!


	10. Did You Know She Could Yell Like That?

AN:

**Only Secret, crazy-antman, starry096, Alana-StarSugarCat,** **Azamiko** I'm glad you liked it.

**Hurrahhurrah** who said it was just shopping? snickers

**Wraith** a straight pervert wouldn't use such a jutsu on other straight perverts. Then again he's twelve on the show so I really don't think we can judge. Anyway I tend to lean both ways when it comes to Naruto pairings; unlike Sasuke I buy it when he is paired with males and females as long as the pairing itself is believable.

**Queen Dopplepoppleous** hmmm… I don't think there is such a thing as a lame review they all make me happy. I was going to try to add that in but I think I may have gone a bit overboard on pairings so I might not. I hope you like this chapter as well.

**Maria Angelica** hey thanks. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

**AxFaTaLxiLLuSioN** thanks. Yeah about the profile, the homework assignment mentioned was one I did at like four in the morning and I amused myself so much that I posted it. The real reason I don't really like St. Pat's day is because I'm not Irish and a lot of my friends when I was younger were so I always felt left out; plus I don't see why we need a holiday as an excuse to get drunk. Happy late birthday by the way.

Thanks to all my reviewers I'm glad you're all still enjoying it and find it amusing. I'm trying here but school is hectic I get out this Friday so updates will pick up then. Till the next chapter enjoy and I hope you all have non hectic lives unlike me.

This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such

* * *

**Picture Day**

"So has anyone seen them?" Kiba asked Neji and TenTen as the three walked through the halls of the Academy.

"Not since this morning," TenTen answered despondently. She hadn't had nearly enough fun with Naruto and Sasuke yet. "Why are we here again?" she asked after a moment, gaining an amused chuckle from Neji.

"We're seeing if Hinata wants to come with us to lunch," Kiba replied.

"But it's like three in the afternoon," TenTen said in confusion.

Kiba rolled his eyes at her and Neji was tempted to pat the poor girl on the head. He resisted the urge and instead turned to Kiba and asked, "Did you really find Naruto sleeping in a tree?" Kiba began cracking up; Neji took that as a yes.

"So we're gonna go look for them after this late lunch right?" TenTen pleaded.

Kiba nodded. "Yeah, Chouji and the others should be finished by then so we'll have more help," he said.

"How are Kakashi and Sakura fairing during all this?" TenTen asked; she hadn't seen the two Jounin since early that morning when she had corralled Sasuke for them.

"They seem to be having the time of their lives," Neji responded, glancing at the room number of the classroom they had just passed. When they arrived at the next classroom, Kiba poked his head in before turning back to the others and grinning. The three paraded in and stood near the back as Hinata lectured her class on the history of Konoha.

She glanced up in the middle of her lecture and nodded to her friends in the back. "I'll be finished in half an hour," she said before returning her attention to the students.

Kiba, TenTen, and Neji took the empty seats in the back while they waited for her to finish. The three listened silently to her as she recounted the early years of the last war with Stone. After several minutes TenTen and Kiba's attention began to drift. TenTen turned to gaze out the window as she wondered where Naruto was so she could torture her runty captain. _Actually he isn't so runty anymore;_ she thought thinking back to the previous day's run in. _Seriously how did I not realize he had a body until after I learned he was gay?_ She despaired. She glanced sideways at Neji before and grinned, _that's why,_ she thought to herself.

Kiba was just as bored and distracted as TenTen. "You know," he whispered, leaning over towards Neji, "I remember Iruka-sensei giving us this exact same lecture," he said.

"Mizuki-sensei gave it to us," TenTen said, snapping out of her daze and turning to the other two.

"Yeah I remember cause me, Naruto, Chouji, and Shikamaru all snuck out of class that day because it was really boring," Kiba said, causing a few of the students in front of them to turn around in awe.

"I wish I had been able to, but Mizuki-sensei locked the doors and windows to stop us from getting out," TenTen stated, slumping down a bit in her seat.

In front of the class Hinata paused momentarily to glance at her cousin and friends. Their increasingly loud conversation was beginning to distract her class and she wanted to finish up for the day. "Pay attention class," she said nicely, causing her students to look at her bashfully.

"Hey you know he was like executed a few years ago, right?" Kiba said to the other two. The children in front of him stiffened slightly but remained as attentive as possible.

"Really?" TenTen asked.

"Why?" Neji added.

"I'm not really sure I didn't hear about till Naruto mentioned it, but I think he broke some decree and the Hokage thought it was serious enough to act against," Kiba said shrugging.

"Hmmm… maybe it was because he was such a boring teacher," TenTen replied giggling.

One of the little girls in front of her gasped and turned around with wide-eyes. "Kana-chan," Hinata said, causing the little girl to turn around politely. "Neji nii-san, Kiba-kun, TenTen-chan," she added smiling politely, causing all three to look up at her curiously. "You're frightening my students," she said.

"Sorry, we'll be quiet," TenTen said apologetically.

Hinata smiled at her class and continued. She had begun talking about the peace talks when Kiba leaned over to TenTen and whispered, "I don't remember this part."

"You must have been gone by the time Iruka-sensei got to it," she whispered back grinning.

"You said Naruto went with you?" Neji asked.

"Yeah we used to sneak out of class all the time," Kiba responded.

One of the younger boys in front of them turned around in awe. "You didn't get caught?" he asked.

"Sure we did," Kiba responded a bit too loudly. "We used to get detention all the time," he added, "but it was worth it because we never had to listen to the lectures."

At the front of the classroom Hinata took a deep breath and looked back at Kiba and the others. They were making her day very difficult and what should have been a brief lecture was taking much longer because they kept distracting her students. "Kiba-kun," she said with a slight warning in her voice. Her teammate looked up a bit startled and bowed slightly in apology. _Alright Hinata calm down,_ she thought as she took another deep breath and went on with the lecture.

"If Naruto skipped class so often how does he expect to become Hokage?" Neji asked, smirking at the other two. The last two rows in the room were completely ignoring Hinata in favor of listening to the conversation going on in the back of the room.

"Because he can kick our asses," Kiba suggested, causing Neji to scowl a bit.

"Class," Hinata said with a slightly strained voice. Several of her students turned back around but the more troublesome ones were blatantly ignoring her.

"Strength isn't everything he has to have some intelligence," TenTen said back.

Kiba snorted and shook his head at the other two. "Yeah right, Naruto has Tsunade-sama wrapped around his little finger. She's so desperate to retire she's practically torturing him into taking the job," he scoffed at them.

"So the next Hokage has already been chosen," one of the students said, looking at them curiously.

"Of course it's been guaranteed for years that Naruto would be Tsunade-sama's successor," Kiba replied.

"Kiba," Hinata said a bit more forcefully in an attempt to regain her class's attention. Unfortunately they continued to ignore her.

"So we can skip class and still become really good shinobi," one of the students said slyly.

"Yeah, sure," Kiba replied offhandedly much to Hinata's horror.

"So, anyw-" Kiba said before being cut off.

"Would the three of you take your conversation outside, so my class and I can actually get something done instead of listening to you prattle on about how insignificant their education is?" Hinata shouted, losing her temper. The room fell silent after the normally timid girl's out burst, and she immediately slapped her hands over her mouth. Her students turned to look at their sensei in shock, but the most thunderstruck were the three the rant had been aimed at.

Of course that didn't stop Neji from cracking up a moment later. Hinata whimpered slightly and covered her entire face with her hands. "It isn't funny," she whispered a moment later. Neji attempted to stop his laughter but this only caused TenTen to begin giggling as well. A moment later she was on the floor laughing hysterically and Hinata looked around desperately.

Kiba took pity on his ex-teammate and scratched the back of his head nervously. "Sorry about that Hinata-chan," he replied, causing several of the girls in the class to giggle. Their response only served to embarrass Hinata further. Kiba misunderstood her reaction and walked up to the front of the class. He got down on both knees and clasped his hands together as if begging before he began actually begging in a very overdramatic scene. "Oh great Hinata-sensei can you ever forgive your humble ex-teammate for his most grievous insult to your wonderful teaching abilities?" he asked dramatically.

"I think he's been spending too much time around Lee and Gai-sensei," TenTen mumbled.

The girls began giggling more as their sensei blushed darkly. Kiba looked around desperately trying to find inspiration to help him pacify Hinata, finally he grinned up at her. "I promise I'll make it up to you by buying you lunch," he said brightly. A chorus of "oooh" went up around the classroom and Hinata looked and her students horrified. Kiba took her silence as yes and jumped up excitedly. "It's a date then," he said, walking back to the back of the room, "We'll wait outside till your done," he added, pulling Neji and TenTen with him.

The moment he closed the door, Kana-chan turned to her sensei with grin. "Hinata-sensei has a date," she squealed.

Hinata looked at her class desperately before giving up. "Class dismissed," she mumbled, "I'll finish this lecture tomorrow."

Once her class exited Hinata collapsed at her desk and began banging her head on its surface.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

Once they had exited the classroom Neji wiped the smirk off his face and turned on Kiba. "Did you just ask Hinata on a date," he said.

"I suppose I did," Kiba quipped back coolly.

TenTen giggled at Neji's over protectiveness. "Did either of you know she could yell like that?" she asked, breaking the tension between them.

"What's going on out here?" Iruka asked from the door of his classroom.

Kiba turned to him grinning. "Hinata-sensei yelled at us because we misbehaved, and we were sent out here to wait for our punishment," he replied as sincerely as possible.

Iruka rolled his eyes. "Right. Well whatever it is just keep it down a bit," he said before turning back around.

Neji caught a glimpse of yellow and black in the classroom and suddenly remembered that Iruka had become headmaster of the Academy three years ago. As headmaster he no longer taught classes, which meant that he had no real reason to be in a classroom. _Oh well, I'll leave them be for another hour or so,_ he thought before turning back to Kiba.

A moment later students began filing out including many giggling young girls glancing at a smirking Kiba. Neji rolled his eyes at his behavior.

They waited for Hinata to follow her class but instead heard a slight banging noise coming from inside the classroom. Kiba poked his head inside just in time to see Hinata drop her head onto her desk once more. "Oi, don't do that," he said walking inside. "It wasn't that bad," he added trying to calm her, "and now I know first hand that you're a good teacher."

After one last head bang Hinata looked up exasperatedly. "Let's just go get lunch," she said standing up. Kiba nodded enthusiastically and led the way out of the classroom.

* * *

AN: This doesn't have much to do with story. Actually this really belongs in a different story that I'm going to start writing but I didn't think it would fit there so I put in here. It works don't you think? Hope you enjoy, next chapter we'll see more of Team 7 now that all the other Teams have finished shopping.

I have to say that while writing the past several chapters, especially this one, TenTen is now my favorite character. I don't have a clue what she's like in the series because there is no real character development for her, but I find her really fun to write as she is in this.


	11. Adorable Little Kids

AN: Wow so it's been over ten days since the last update. Really sorry about that school and all. I'm back home in St. Louis now so hopefully this will work out better. Thanks for all your reviews hope you continue to enjoy.

**_Night-Owl123, Alana-StarSugarCat,_****_Ulitheal,_** **_starry096, hurrahhurrah, SolidAmerican, Queen Dopplepoppleous, _**glad you enjoyed it hope you like this one too.

**_Goingcommando_** I'm glad you still liked it. About the punctuation I'm not great with it when I'm awake so when I'm writing on so little sleep things tend to look odd and no matter how many times I go over it I won't find my mistakes. I'm working on it but don't expect it to be perfect.

**_Harukakanata, Only Secret, FireDragonBL_** I'm glad you liked TenTen so much.

**_Dagorwen of Ithilien_** well this isn't really soon but it is as soon as possible. I'm glad you liked it and I promise updates should be more frequent from here on out.

**_Wraith_** don't worry it shouldn't be overemphasized too much. It actually will probably only be mentioned once or twice more.

**_Vermillion Wolf_** yeah I'm trying to break out of the rut. Hope you enjoy this one as well.

**_Azamiko_** it was Naruto. Glad you liked it and hope you like this one.

Okay I know I said in Chapter 9 that this would probably be finished by now but obviously it won't. It should probably be done some time in June. I've got the rest pretty much written and completely planned so hopefully it won't be much longer. Regardless of when it's done I swear it won't be this long between updates again. Finals and moving home caught up with me so I was severely delayed. If you follow _After the Dream_ as well it might be another week or so.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

* * *

**Picture Day**

It was now the fifth day since Tsunade assigned the Teams to their simple task. In fact it was so simple that all but one Team had already completed the mission and were now enjoying their week off. Of course several of these shinobi were spending what should have been luxurious down time chasing after two of their rambunctious young comrades. Unfortunately for them it was just after one in the afternoon and not a single member of the search party, which currently consisted of Kakashi, Sakura, Lee, Kiba, TenTen, Neji, and occasionally the Konohamaru Corps, had spotted neither hide nor hair of Sasuke and Naruto. In fact the two boys had been successfully hiding since the previous evening.

Sakura finally rounded up the troops for lunch; "Kakashi's paying," she whispered behind the oblivious Jounin's back.

"Hmmm…," Kakashi muttered as he kept his nose pasted in his book, "How do you think their managing so well today?"

Kiba glanced over to answer and was shocked to find the man's ramen bowl already empty. "I didn't even see him lift his chopsticks," he muttered, catching the others' attention. Sakura merely smiled and shook her head; she had been trying for years to see under his mask and it no longer shocked her how well the man had gotten at preserving his secret identity.

"Well he is our future Hokage," Konohamaru muttered gaining fierce nods of agreement from Moegi and Udon. "And he was trained by Jiraiya-sama; my grandpa said he never got caught," Konohamaru added, causing Kakashi to giggle and blush slightly.

Sakura reached over and smacked her ex-sensei over the head. "Well whatever the reason we really need to try and find them by tonight. We only have two days left and that really isn't enough time," she said.

"Seriously, all of our teams finished in one afternoon. What do you need to do with those two?" Kiba asked dumbly.

Sakura grinned mischievously and both Kakashi and TenTen got knowing looks in their eyes. As Kiba glanced around he noticed that even Moegi seemed to know what the two were in for; unfortunately it appeared that neither Lee nor Neji seemed to have a clue what was going on so neither would be able to tell him anything.

"Anyways," Neji said trying to relieve the situation a bit. "When was the last time anyone saw them?" he asked.

"Well yesterday morning I guess," Sakura said.

"I saw them at the Academy yesterday afternoon," Neji said, causing Sakura and Kakashi to swivel their attention to them.

"The Academy?" Sakura repeated questioningly before her eyes lit up. "Iruka-sensei of course, I'm surprised Naruto waited so long to get his help," she said turning to Kakashi.

"He must have been waiting until they were out of other options," Kakashi said. "Well now we know where to go after lunch so finish up," he added turning back to his book.

Half an hour later the group left the Ramen stand and made their way over to the Ninja Academy.

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That morning at the Academy poor Hinata's class was once more interrupted. "Excuse me Hinata-sensei," Iruka said, poking his head in the door.

"What can I do for you Iruka-sensei?" she asked politely when she realized the interruption was friendly.

"Toto-sensei is out sick for the day and I was wondering if you would be willing to let two of his students sit in your class for the day to make up an assignment," the mild mannered Chuunin asked politely.

"Of course," Hinata replied. "There are several seats in the back," she said pointing to the seats Neji, Kiba, and TenTen had occupied the previous day.

Iruka nodded in thanks and ushered in two young students most likely only first years at the Academy. Hinata smiled at them as Iruka showed them their seats in the back. "Mikkousha-kun and Intokusha-kun just sit here to finish it. If you finish before the end of the day, tell Hinata-sensei and then come tell me," he said as the two boys seated themselves.

"Yes Iruka-sensei," the smaller of the two boys muttered with a small bow. Iruka smiled down at the two and quickly ruffled the smaller boy's hair before turning to Hinata and bowing slightly as he walked out.

The rest of the afternoon was relatively quiet for Hinata. Her own class had a test and since it took nearly two hours for them to complete she had nothing to do but watch. After about an hour she scanned the back row and found both little boys watching her. _Did that boy just wink at me?_ She thought as her eyes passed over the two.

Half an hour later she looked up to see the taller of the two giggling quietly as he watched the smaller one scribble furiously. She watched them for several minutes before sighing and turning back to her own class;_ it isn't really my fault if they don't finish their assignment in time,_ she thought.

As she walked around the class collecting her students' papers she chanced a glimpse of their paper and noticed it was full of doodles. Apparently they knew they would be in trouble because the entire page was covered with small sketches of various angry reactions from what she supposed was their teacher. _Is that a mask on his face or do they just not draw mouths?_ She wondered as she walked back to the front of the class.

Three hours later as she let her class out for lunch she walked back to the two little boys to see how they were doing. "Did you want to go outside for lunch or stay and work?" she asked.

"Umm… we'll stay here," the taller boy answered bashfully.

"Okay," Hinata said, walking out the door down to the teachers lounge.

She was halfway through lunch period when the door to the teacher's lounge slid open to reveal none other than the supposedly ill Toto-sensei. Hinata's forehead furrowed in confusion and she looked around for Iruka-sensei. She finally found him hiding behind a book and peering at cautiously over the top of it. "You said he was sick," she said, catching the attention of most of the staff.

"What do you mean?" Toto-sensei asked.

"I have two of your students sitting in the back of my class because he said you were sick," Hinata said looking between the two in confusion.

"All of my students have been with me all day," Toto-sensei said in confusion.

"Then who is currently sitting in the back of my classroom?" she asked, turning to Iruka-sensei in bewilderment.

"Let's just say they're two miscreants who needed a quiet place to sit for the day," Iruka replied scratching the back of his head nervously.

The rest of the room looked at him in confusion before shrugging and turning back to their lunches. They didn't manage to remain quiet for very long as Hinata's eyes suddenly widened and she turned to Iruka in horror. "No," she said, shaking her head in disbelief. "I have to go make sure they haven't blown up the classroom," she responded, turning to hurry out the door.

"Oh come on, they're not that bad…anymore," Iruka said, causing Hinata to turn around and look at him as if he was insane.

"During their match in the Chuunin Exam they managed to destroy two of the walls in the arena," she said exasperatedly. "Whenever they are within ten feet of each other, one or the other starts a fight that ends up destroying the area, and I've left them unsupervised in the classroom," she said, turning to run out of the room.

"Who exactly is she watching?" Toto-sensei asked in confusion.

"Just some old students of mine," Iruka answered shrugging.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

Hinata barged into the room panting slightly and quickly glanced around searching for the two missing Jounin. She found them seated safely in the same spots she had left them in watching her nervously.

"You figured it out," the smaller one stated.

"Yes," Hinata said miserable as she walked up to the front of the classroom and sat down at her desk. "What am I supposed to do when they come looking for you?" she asked.

"Don't worry will skip out the window if we sense them within the school," the taller one said reassuringly.

"I already had Kiba in here yesterday telling my class all about his little escapades out the window; the last thing I need is for the two of you to actually leave during class," Hinata said, looking up at the two who were now standing beside her desk.

"Sorry," the smaller one said pitifully.

She looked over to him to find that both boys were giving her puppy dog eyes. She blinked once before giggling slightly causing both to frown adorably. "You two must have been adorable as little kids even if this isn't what you looked like," she said.

"It isn't," the taller one said, she was fairly certain it was Sasuke.

"Yeah we tried that but Iruka-sensei said we needed to blend in more," the smaller one piped up grinning. _Definitely Naruto,_ she thought, _only he could be that chipper in this situation._

"Well, just promise not to cause trouble with the class. I didn't finish yesterday's lecture because of Kiba and the others," she finally said as the bell rang and the class began to file in. The two boys nodded and walked back to their seats.

Just as they were about to sit down there was a knock on the door. "Excuse me Hinata," Kiba said grinning up at her.

Hinata glanced at him nervously. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Naruto and Sasuke inching towards the window that they must have opened some time during lunch. "Yes, Kiba-kun," she said as nicely as possible.

"You haven't by any chance seen Naruto or Sasuke all day have you?" he asked grinning.

"No," she responded. _Well technically I haven't,_ she thought grinning inside, _they said so themselves that isn't even what they looked like when they were younger._

"Hmmm…," Kiba said nodding. "Iruka-sensei didn't by any chance give you any new students today did he?" he asked smiling.

"He brought them in this morning," one of the little boys said pointing to Naruto and Sasuke's now frozen forms. A moment later the two took off slipping through the window. Kiba attempted to follow and just barely managed to squeeze through the window. Akamaru wasn't so fortunate. Since the pup couldn't get out that way Kiba took pity on him. "Go get the others," he shouted to his dog as he took off after Naruto and Sasuke who were now back in their normal forms.

When Hinata finally managed to calm down her class she was faced with twenty-four severely confused Academy students. "What just happened?" Kana-chan asked finally voicing the class's thoughts.

"Two Jounin were playing a little joke on their friends and hiding from them here," Hinata said not wanting to explain the whole situation to the class.

"Who were they?" the little boy who had ratted them out asked.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke," she responded, turning back to her desk and looking for that afternoon's lecture. She knew she had said something wrong when the entire class gasped in surprise. Sure enough when she turned around Kana had politely raised her hand.

"Umm… isn't he the one is going to be the next Hokage?" she asked nervously.

"Yes," Hinata said.

"He's weird," Kana whispered to the girl next her.

Hinata smiled at her class and was about to respond when a voice from the door responded, "You have no idea."

"Sakura," Hinata said with a slight smile. Sakura grinned back to Hinata and the class as she happily munched on an apple.

"Is he really going to become Hokage?" one of the little boys asked.

"Are you joking?" Sakura said startling the class, "Tsunade-sama is practically begging him to take over at this very moment."

"How is someone so weird going to become Hokage?" Kana-chan asked, frowning up at Sakura.

"Have you met Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked. "The past Hokage's have a tendency to be very odd. Naruto will fit right in," she assured the class.

"What do you mean?" Kana-chan asked.

"Well I'm not too sure about the Nidaime and Shodaime but I'm sure Tsunade could tell some pretty funny stories about her grandfather if she wanted. One thing I've learned from my team is that in order to teach three very weird students you have to be weird. Therefore Sandaime had to be weird; plus he was a pervert. Yondaime I don't know much about either but from what Jiraiya-sama and Kakashi-sensei have hinted at he was almost as weird as Naruto," Sakura said, waving away their disbelief.

"What about Tsunade-sama?" Kana asked.

Sakura nearly choked on her laughter. "Drinking, gambling, and fighting. She and Naruto can't be in a room for more than thirty seconds before they start yelling at each other; unless they're yelling at someone else," she said.

"Well now that you've listed all of the faults of our past heroes my class and I need to discuss what they actually did for the village," Hinata said, grinning tightly at Sakura.

"Oops," Sakura replied weakly. "I'm going to go now; enjoy the lecture," she said to the class as she disappeared out the door.

Hinata grinned at her class before walking to the back and locking the window Naruto and Sasuke had left open. "Let's get started shall we?" she said as she walked back to the front of the class.

* * *

AN: I'm going to take this time to apologize for this chapter. I was a bit tired and I wrote this three days after finals ended and yeah it's a bit weird but I hope you enjoyed it.

I hope you all liked the small glimpse of the Konohamaru corps. They're three of my favorite characters and I had to bring them in for at least a small glimpse.

I'm not quite sure I liked Hinata in this one; she's not easy for me to write so hope it wasn't too bad.

I promise the next update should be no later than Friday. It's been a while since I've written so I'm trying to get back in the groove once I do updates will come two three times a week. The way I see it there are probably ten more chapters give or take a few; it really shouldn't take more than a month probably only two or three weeks if I can just write the damn thing without interruption.


	12. 1279 to 1368

AN:

Wow, so once again this is late. I know I promised this would be out on Friday, but I've been really messed sleep-wise and I've had a lot of trouble getting going. I'm still having trouble but I managed to get this out so hopefully it was worth it. Thanks to all my reviewers, once again sorry for the wait.

**_jAi0rOKu_**, **_crazy-antman,_** **_HanaTenshiHimeko, Night-Owl123, harukakanata,_** **_Shodaime Ramenkage_** well it's not exactly soon, but hopefully you'll enjoy it just the same.

**_Ayumi Uchiha_** okay so I'm not actually sure you're still reading this but all the same, sorry you didn't like that.

**_Limelie_** thank you curtsies. I like unique.

**_Insanechildfanfic,_****_hurrahhurrah, _:), _Only Secret, goingcommando,_****_Alana-StarSugarCat, Dual Rasengan_** I'm glad you liked it.

**_starry096_** I agree. Plus I had to bring in Iruka somehow; you can't just leave him out of a fic.

**_SawCyn-WroteSin_** interesting suggestion. We'll see.

**_wolvesm0on_** what, what mate, chipper indeed.

**_SolidAmerican_** hehe, hope this chapter answered your questions.

This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

* * *

**Picture Day**

After Naruto and Sasuke escaped the Academy, they prepared themselves to spend the rest of the day on the run. For the next two hours that is exactly what they did. Sakura and Kakashi were never more than a block away as the duo raced through the streets of Konoha.

Around four in the afternoon the two caught their first break when they managed to fake out their sensei and ex-teammate. The two boys swerved around a bend in the road and ducked into an alleyway. They hoped that the street was short enough to convince Kakashi and Sakura that they had in fact made it around the next bend before them. Luckily they were right as they saw a moment later when their pursuers sped by.

Naruto sighed in relief and sank down. "When is this going to be over?" he muttered.

"When we give in or they catch us," Sasuke replied.

"Well the first one isn't going to happen," Naruto said.

"And the second one isn't likely," Sasuke added, "so I guess we just have to put up with it until this picture day thing has passed."

"From what Kakashi-sensei said, Tsunade hasn't even set a date yet," Naruto replied mournfully.

Sasuke grimaced at that and sank down across from Naruto. "Hopefully someone will take pity on us soon," he said uncharacteristically. Naruto delicately raised an eyebrow at the Uchiha, and Sasuke was suddenly reminded of just how similar Naruto and Tsunade really were. "She taught you that didn't she," he said.

"Taught me what?" Naruto replied in confusion.

"That eyebrow thing," Sasuke replied. "She does that whenever someone does something unexpected or lies or something. It's like she's saying 'Is that so?'" he added.

"Dude I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto retorted, standing and stretching.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the blonde's behavior before standing and following his lead. The two jumped up to the rooftops before immediately ducking for cover. "Okay, so TenTen's watching the roofs," Sasuke said, turning to look at Naruto.

"She was heading in the opposite direction, so if we stay low we should be able to make it at least a few blocks before someone spots us," Naruto replied slowly creeping along the rooftop. The two boys were extremely lucky. They not only managed to get a few blocks away but halfway across Konoha.

Naruto and Sasuke left the rooftops in an alleyway next to Ichiraku's Ramen. Although both were rather hungry, Sasuke managed to dampen Naruto's complaints by telling the blond that there was too large a chance that Sakura and Kakashi were inside. He had no idea how right he was.

"Where could they possibly have gotten away from us?" Sakura asked as she and Kakashi entered Ichiraku. Naruto and Sasuke's eyes widened and they quickly hid behind the ramen stand's dumpster. Unfortunately… well fortunately for Naruto and Sasuke, unfortunately for Sakura and Kakashi, the stands walls were rather thin. The two could hear the conversation taking place inside.

"Maybe they got lost on the road of life," Kakashi said, gaining confused looks from the entire search party that had gathered together for dinner.

Sakura dropped her head down onto the bar and smacked it twice before Lee reached over to stop her. "They're running away from us," she said, "not late for training."

"Do we even want to know?" TenTen asked, looking back and forth between the two visible members of Team 7 in confusion.

"Probably not," Kiba responded. Neji could only shake his head in amusement. Sakura and Kakashi were turning out to be almost as amusing as Naruto, Sasuke, and the Hokage normally were.

"Well," Sakura said, ignoring TenTen and Kiba's statements, "I'm finished I suppose we should all get going." She lightly jumped off her seat and waited patiently for the others to follow. She tapped her foot impatiently as Kiba and Kakashi both took their time getting up. "The faster you two get moving the longer we have to torture those two," she said finally with a wicked gleam in her eye.

_Kami, those guys are going to kill us one day,_ Naruto thought. He gulped slightly and turned to look at Sasuke. Sasuke wasn't paying the least bit of attention to the conversation inside, but he jumped to attention when Naruto shifted to turn around. "We should get out of here," Naruto whispered.

Sasuke looked at him in confusion for a moment before shrugging. _I must have missed something,_ he thought guiltily. A moment later he saw Kakashi and Sakura take off down the road and he nodded forward to Naruto, and the two slowly moved out of the alley. When they made it to the end of the alley they peered out cautiously and sighed in relief when they saw no signs of their trackers. "Let's go," Sasuke said, walking off down the street.

Naruto followed in relative silence that would have raised questions if the entire village wasn't by this point aware of Tsunade's devious _Picture Day_. The entire village was on edge waiting for the two boys to give in and allow themselves to be cleaned up nicely. Okay so it was mainly the entire female population and a small portion of the males, but still everyone with half a brain knew that Hatake Kakashi was in serious danger of losing the title of "Most Eligible Shinobi" to one, or both, of his former students. They could only hope that his preferences hadn't rubbed off on the boys as well.

The two made it three streets before anyone approached them. Luckily it was none of their pursuers but a young black haired boy their age. "Excuse me, do you know when the Mongols ruled China?" he asked with a silly grin on his face.

Sasuke glanced around looking for Sakura and the others. All he found was the convenience store they were passing and another boy, a blond one, who appeared to be waiting for the other one to bring back an answer. "Ummm…" he stuttered looking at the boy in confusion. _This has to be a joke of some kind. Maybe it's a trick, _he thought.

"1279 to 1368" Naruto replied absentmindedly. He was completely unaware of Sasuke's inner dialogue as he continued on.

"Thanks dude," the boy shouted at their backs.

"How do you know that?" Sasuke asked, looking at Naruto in disbelief.

"I study… sometimes," Naruto said, looking away in embarrassment. "Plus, I thought Genghis Kahn was cool when we read about him in class," he added, causing Sasuke to chuckle in amusement, and Naruto to once again combine glaring and pouting in a ridiculous attempt to display his displeasure with his teammate.

"There they are," someone shouted; Naruto and Sasuke froze in their tracks and turned to see Kiba pointing at them and laughing. A moment later Sakura and Kakashi appeared in front of them

"Shit," they said in unison before taking off again.

"Oh, just give up already," Sakura shouted after them as she and Kakashi gave chase.

"No, you give up," Naruto shouted back childishly. Sasuke barely heard the blond mutter, "Please," dejectedly as they continued on.

* * *

AN: Well I hope that was enjoyable for all of you.

If you've never seen _Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure_ go see it now. If you have you may have recognized the scene outside the convenience store. That scene does not belong to me, or at least not that line nor the "unnamed" character that says it; both belong to whatever genius wrote that movie.

The date is basically correct. The exact date changes depending on the source you get it from, but that hits the right general era.


	13. Konoha's Most Prized Possession

AN: This is really just filler, but it is longer than most chapters to make up for how late it is. I'm almost done with the next chapter, but I thought I'd give you all a glimpse at what Tsunade and the others have been up to. I'll respond to all of your reviews next time; thank you so much for all of your encouragements and suggestions.

This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

This takes place after chapter 9.

* * *

**Picture Day**

"So you're sure Tsunade-sama won't mind us joining them?" Ino asked, as Team 10 walked towards Hokage Tower alongside Anko.

"Of course she won't," Anko replied. "She practically handed out invitations to anyone involved in Picture Day," she added reassuringly.

"Okay," Ino chirped happily, as they stopped outside Tsunade's door. Anko knocked on the door twice, waited a moment, and then knocked four more times. A minute later, the door was cracked open and all five were pulled into the room. Ino turned to see Shizune quickly closing the door behind them.

"This is a party," Ino muttered, as she looked around the room. A large table had been placed in the center of the room – Tsunade's desk had been shoved against the far wall still piled with paper work. The windows were all closed and their curtains pulled tightly shut, leaving the room rather dark and mysterious. Around the table, a number of various shinobi were seated. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and the two elders were seated at the head of the table, and she noticed Shizune take a seat near them once the door had been secured. Seated along one side of the table were Kurenai, Gai, Genma, and… "A frog?"

"Yo!" Gamakichi said from his perch near Gai. "You here to watch bro get tortured too?" he said a little too happily.

"Bro?" Chouji asked.

"He means Naruto," Jiraiya answered for Gamakichi.

Ino nodded in response and mutely followed her teammates to several seats across from the senseis, as she continued to stare at the little frog in amusement.

"What have we missed?" Anko asked happily from her seat next to Gai.

"Nothing much. The most interesting thing that happened since this morning was you convincing Naruto to turn into Shikamaru's mother," Kurenai responded. Anko cackled a bit before calming down and grinning at the others.

Ino and the others were too busy watching Naruto and Sasuke run through the streets. Gamakichi lightly jumped over to sit near the younger shinobi. _Their company should be much more fun than these old people,_ he thought, _maybe they'll have snacks for me_. "How is this possible?" Ino whispered to Shizune, as Naruto and Sasuke dodged seizure and once more got away.

"Konoha's most prized possession," Tsunade answered, smiling at the young blond.

Ino looked at her inquisitively, but her attention was taken up by the scene in front of her. "How long can they run?" Ino finally asked.

"Oh, they've spent most of the morning moving non-stop. My guess is that they'll start looking for a place to hide permanently in a few hours," Tsunade responded.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

"Any more snacks?" Gamakichi asked Chouji several hours later. Chouji swiftly pulled out another bag of chips and offered some to the small frog. "You give out way better snacks than bro," the tiny toad said happily, from his perch on the Akimichi's shoulder.

Ino glanced over at the two and fought the urge to laugh. She had only caught glimpses of the younger summons once or twice, but those were always slugs. Gamakichi strongly reminded her of Naruto; if the other toads were anything like him, it was no wonder that they got along so well with the blond.

"Did she really yell?" Kurenai asked, causing Ino to jump back to attention. Naruto and Sasuke were sitting in an empty room of the academy building with Iruka-sensei. She could barely see Neji, Kiba, and TenTen through the door. The group continued to watch in amusement as Iruka-sensei proved just how similar to Naruto he truly was. Within an hour, the three had a solid plan that would most likely keep Kakashi and the others from finding them for at least a day. Naruto and Sasuke both used henge and followed Iruka out onto to the street. Anyone who saw them would think Iruka was just taking a walk with two of his young students. After enjoying a bowl of ramen together, he told the two that they could hide in his house that night to avoid be woken early.

"Well that takes the fun out of it," Jiraiya said, as the three made their way to Iruka's house. "I didn't think they'd actually seek help to avoid shopping," he added after a moment.

"Why exactly are they trying to avoid it anyway?" Shikamaru asked. "As much trouble as shopping is, it's much more troublesome to waste time running away." When the room fell silent, Shikamaru glanced up in confusion. Despite the darkness, Tsunade's maniacal grin was obvious to the even the most unobservant of observers. "Never mind," he mumbled quickly.

"Men never understand the intricacies of one's own appearance," Tsunade stated cryptically. Her utterance was met with blank stares from the majority of the male audience, but Shikamaru noticed that Jiraiya and Genma seemed to understand, as did every female in the room.

"Feh, too troublesome," he muttered again, causing Asuma to chuckle lightly.

Several minutes later Naruto, Sasuke, and Iruka arrived at Iruka's house, and Tsunade sighed heavily. "Well I guess we're done for today. That was really rather boring," she said grumpily. After a moment, her face brightened significantly and she turned to Jiraiya. "You owe me money," she stated, shocking several of the rooms younger occupants.

Ino watched in amusement as Jiraiya, Tsunade, and several of the room's other occupants sorted out a number of different bets. _I can't believe they already have bets going on this. It's only been happening for four days; don't they have anything better to do? _She thought. A moment later she had to stop herself from laughing out loud. _There are over twenty different things being bet on, and our Hokage has only won once – the entire week._ She thought shaking her head. _I can't believe I'm saying… well thinking this: Naruto was right; Tsunade really should not gamble._

She glanced back at the projection that was still displayed above the table. "So how does this actually work?" Chouji asked beside her. She and Shikamaru shrugged in response, but Gamakichi tapped Chouji's shoulder and pointed. The three teammates followed his instructions and noticed a small, round object.

"Is that a crystal ball?" Ino asked skeptically.

Tsunade looked up and smiled. "As I said, Konoha's Most Prized Possession: the Hokage's Looking Glass," she stated proudly. "How else is the Hokage supposed to know everything going on in the village?" she questioned happily.

"So you can see anything on this?" Chouji asked.

"Anything," Tsunade responded happily. "However, it has always been the practice of the Hokage's to practice discretion when using it," she added seriously. With the flick of her wrist the projection ended, and the crystal ball clouded over.

"So you've been using it to spy on your successor and his best friend…as they run from their teammate and sensei…in order to avoid a task that you set up for them…because you forgot to do something," Ino stated.

"Essentially," Tsunade responded nonchalantly. Ino shrugged; _at least she doesn't pretend this is a serious matter. _A moment later Tsunade sighed once more. "I suppose that's it for tonight. You're all welcome to come back tomorrow. From the looks of things, they'll be at the academy in the morning so we won't miss anything particularly funny if we start a bit later," she said with a shrug, "see you all then."

The last thing the group heard as they left the room was Shizune pleading the Hokage to get some work done.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

By noon the next day, Tsunade's office was full. The same group as the day before was settled comfortably around the table, and it wasn't uncommon for the occasional stray shinobi to wander in and catch a glimpse of the action for a minute or two before going back to their work. _The poor souls,_ Ino thought gleefully as another poor schmuck was forced to return to his desk. _It's just getting to the good part, too_.

"Hmmm, I'm surprised she hasn't figured it out yet," Kurenai said as Hinata left on her lunch break.

"Naruto was practically taunting her that entire time," Anko stated.

The two little boys, who were obviously Naruto and Sasuke, waited until Hinata had left the room before the smaller one, Naruto, began cracking up. "You just blushed when you answered her," he giggled out in a squeaky little voice.

Sasuke glared back at him, and the women watching in Tsunade's office fought the urge to coo. "She knows," he said.

"Neh, she's just confused," Naruto responded. "Although, she will figure it out by the end of the day," he added as an afterthought.

"Especially, if you keep randomly winking at her," Sasuke added.

"Wow, I didn't think six years old could look that jealous," Ino said.

"Jiraiya, you will owe me a great deal of money at the end of the day," Tsunade said to the Toad Sennin. _Kami, they're even betting on **that**,_ Ino thought.

About half an hour later, the little boys' bickering was cut off when Hinata burst back in the room. The group watched in amusement as Naruto and Sasuke calmed Hinata down. "That reminds me," Tsunade said when Hinata mentioned how adorable the two ANBU captains looked; "I need to find pictures of chibi Naruto and Sasuke. Do you think anyone would have any?" she asked absentmindedly.

"Why, do you need pictures of them when they're younger?" Genma asked looking at her suspiciously. _Somehow I'm going to get in trouble for this,_ he thought as Tsunade turned to him in alarm.

"Nothing," she replied unconvincingly. He was about to push for answers when Tsunade spoke again, "Hush, the class is coming back in."

Genma sighed and turned back to the projection. It wasn't very surprising that the class hadn't even had to time to sit down before Kiba came in - looking far too smug not to know what was going on. "About time," Kurenai muttered.

"Now for a little action," Anko said next to her.

A moment later Naruto and Sasuke were out the window and the chase was on. For those in Hokage tower it was a bit unfortunate that Tsunade chose to observe Hinata's class for several more minutes. Although, hearing the entire class doubt Naruto's ability to be Hokage was rather amusing. "That little brat!" Tsunade shouted. _Wow, Naruto was right again. Tsunade doesn't take well to criticism,_ Ino thought, lightly touching her ears. _I'm going to be deaf for a week._

Tsunade attempted to soothe her ire by quickly catching up to Naruto and Sasuke. The group was entertained for several hours by the game of cat and mouse going on. When Naruto and Sasuke managed to ditch their attackers it was quite a remarkable feat. "How is it they're able to hide from Kiba and Akamaru's noses and Neji's byakugan? Not to mention that Kakashi is a very good tracker," Kurenai asked.

Instead of an answer she was greeted by laughter from the doorway. Iruka stood in the doorway laughing at the gathered shinobi. "You do know that when Naruto and Sasuke catch you, Konoha's second massacre will occur," he said after a moment.

"Ah, Iruka-kun," Tsunade said sweetly to the young academy director. "Why don't you join us?" she asked.

"No thank you," he said politely. "I was just on my way to the mission room; I figured I'd just stop by and see if you were all enjoying yourselves," he added smiling.

As Naruto had aged, he had slowly brought out Iruka's prankster side. For those that had known the formerly demure sensei, the change was rather interesting.

"Come on Iruka, don't you want to have a little fun at their expense, pay Naruto back for all that ramen?" Anko said grinning.

"Or all the time he snuck out of your classes," Chouji added.

"All the times-" whatever Ino was going to say was cut off by Iruka's refusal.

"No thank you. I'd like to remain alive long enough to see the outcome of whatever it is you planned," he said looking at Tsunade. "Enjoy it while you can," he said turning to go, "the fun will be over when Naruto catches you."

"Poppycock," Tsunade responded, causing the entire room to look at her in amusement. "I mean…" she said looking a bit confused herself. "They'll never catch us," she finally said, ignoring her earlier response.

"Sure they won't," Iruka said as he walked away. "Just like Naruto never caught Genma and Kakashi in the-" whatever he was going to say was cut off when Genma rocketed out of his seat and clamped a hand over the Chuunin's grinning mouth. Without another word he quickly escorted a laughing Iruka down the hall, leaving the rest of the room wondering just what Naruto had stumbled across. _I'll have to get the story from the runt later,_ Jiraiya thought blushing slightly. _It's just what my female readers have been clamoring for._

Genma returned several minutes later; he was just in time to hear Tsunade mutter, "Wow, I didn't think their spirits would break like this." He was almost fooled into believing the Hokage may have felt regretful about torturing the two, until she added, "This is more fun than I thought it would be."

When Naruto raised an eyebrow at Sasuke, the entire room turned to see Tsunade smirking in amusement. The smirk fell slightly at Sasuke's question and successive statements. "So when did you teach him that?" Jiraiya asked, turning to look at Tsunade.

"When I was training with him before the Chuunin exam," she responded smiling.

"Why on earth did you choose to teach it at that time?" Homura asked.

"It can unhinge opponents, especially with Naruto's eyes. He always looks mischievous, so that just makes him look like he knows something you don't know and it is going to cause you a great deal of pain," she said grinning a bit sadistically. "Plus it makes him look at least a bit intelligent," she added after a moment.

By the time Tsunade and the elders began paying attention again; Naruto and Sasuke were hiding in the alley way behind Ichiraku. "Wow, Sakura was right," Ino mumbled.

"About what?" Anko asked, turning to her in confusion.

Ino simply pointed up and, after a moment, Anko grinned. "I really didn't believe it when she told me, but now…" Ino said trailing off.

"What?" Chouji asked in confusion.

"You see how Naruto is obviously paying attention to the conversation inside," she said, causing Chouji to nod.

"Yeah, and from the sound of it Kakashi needs new excuses," Asuma said, causing the adults to chuckle.

"Forget about that for a moment," Ino said looking back up. She turned to Chouji and grinned. "Now, what is Sasuke paying attention to?" she asked, causing many of those in the room – excluding herself, Anko, and Tsunade – to look up and study the scene.

Not surprisingly Shikamaru was the first to figure out what she showing. "Too troublesome," he muttered and turned away. _TenTen will never let them live it down if they hook up,_ he thought smirking slightly.

A moment later, Ino was getting slightly impatient when she noticed Jiraiya start blushing and giggling slightly. _Please tell me he isn't going to get_ _inspired by this,_ she thought. _Although if he does, I'd probably buy it,_ she admitted to the recesses of her mind.

As the two boys stood up and began walking down the street, the rest of the room caught on.

"Wow, how did he know that?" Chouji asked, when Naruto responded to the boy's question.

"Hm, apparently some of the lessons actually sank into his head," Jiraiya muttered. When Kiba spotted the two, the chase was on again. Naruto and Sasuke spent the rest of the day running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

The next morning Tsunade's office was filled quite early. Kakashi was running out of time, and Naruto and Sasuke were getting desperate. _This should be very fun,_ Anko thought sadistically.

The fun of the early morning chase was dampened slightly when Iruka stopped by. "They're going to catch you," he muttered smirking, before turning away and walking down the hall.

"Yeah right," Anko muttered disdainfully in response.

The two boys joined up just as the village streets began filling up. Luckily this worked to their advantage and made it slightly easier to escape.

Or it would have if Neji hadn't been working with their pursuers. "I almost feel sorry for them. Both Naruto and Sasuke have very distinctive chakra, Neji's byakugan can spot it almost instantly," Kurenai muttered.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

An hour later, the day was turning out to be just like the week's early days. "This will most likely just be another day wasted running around," Koharu said.

"At this rate, Kakashi might not catch them," Jiraiya responded happily.

"He'd better," Tsunade muttered darkly, "and not just because I have money riding on it."

"Damn it," Naruto muttered, catching the group's attention. "We're supposed to be on vacation," he said angrily.

"It's your own damn fault, kid," Jiraiya responded, even though the irate blond couldn't hear him.

"Weren't we supposed to spend this week training?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

"If we can lose them, we might be able to fit in a short spar before they catch up again," Sasuke responded not missing a beat.

"Right, a 'spar'," Ino said laughing. Several others in the room broke out in perverted giggles, and the others just rolled their eyes.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

Instead of breaking for lunch that day, Tsunade ordered in. The chase was the closest it had been all week. Kakashi and Sakura weren't close enough to catch the two boys, but they were never out of sight either. "It'll be over soon," Shikamaru said sluggishly.

Surprisingly he was wrong.

"There wasn't supposed to be a parade today," Tsunade stated, as the procession made its way down the street, preventing the pursuers from following Naruto and Sasuke. "You don't think…no; they couldn't have," she said after a moment.

"Are you sure?" Anko asked.

"They're good, but that's out of their league," Jiraiya said.

"Is that parade ramen themed?" Chouji asked, looking at the others.

Several minutes later they watched Naruto and Sasuke duck into a building from an alleyway. They ran through semi-crowded halls, but no one paid them much attention. As they ran on Shikamaru slowly sat up and looked closer at the image. As the two began ascending some stairs, the others in the room began looking at the scene suspiciously. When the two exited the stairwell and took off down another hallway, dread appeared on many faces. "Hey isn't that…" Ino said, turning to the others in dismay.

"Oh, shit!" Tsunade said. She had just managed to shut off the projection when the door creaked open.

* * *

AN: Okay like I said this was mainly just a filler chapter. Hopefully the next chapter will be up in a few days.

Secondly, I'd just like to take a moment to get something off my mind. I've been bored lately and trying to fight writers' block, so I've been visiting random Naruto forums and such. I've noticed a lot of people really angry about Naruto being licensed, and recently, I've even seen a petition being started.

**Do Not Sign a Petition**. This petition will not be taken seriously, especially when all the names on it are internet aliases. All any one who signs it is going to do is look stupid, and make the rest of the Naruto fans out their look stupid and pathetic.

Just because the show is being dubbed, and most likely geared towards a slightly younger than average audience, does not mean it is ruined. If you're currently a Naruto fan, it means that you either read the manga or get a fan sub of the anime. Just keep doing what you're doing and ignore the dubbed show on Cartoon Network if it annoys you so much. Yes, the changes they make will be stupid, but they don't have to affect you if you don't want them to.

Okay so you didn't really have to read that but seriously people it isn't the end of the world. Don't let this ruin the show for you.


	14. You Didn't

AN: Reviews, sorry to all of you that reviewed after chapter 12 was posted. I did answer your reviews below, but I didn't have time last time. Thanks to everyone who reviews and keeps this story going. I don't update based on number of reviews, but it is really encouraging to see that people actually enjoy it. It is also wonderful when people give me little tips to improve my writing. I'm trying to improve my skills at least a little, and the smallest comment can help!

**_Alana-StarSugarCat_** I couldn't agree more. Maybe it'll happen this chapter.

**_krn-kimbap_** well he can't stay stupid forever. I hope you like this chapter as well.

**_Harukakanata_** aww, come on giving in is for sissies. They'll make these others suffer first.

**_Dual Rasengan_** hehe. Keep enjoying!

**_crazy-antman_** run, run fast as you can you can't catch me I'm the ginger bread man. Hmmm, maybe Naruto should use that line. Anyway, enjoy!

**_Limelie_** I don't really see Naruto as lazy; the kid trains his ass off. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

**_Insanechildfanfic_** thanks! I hope you like it 'til the end.

**_Azamiko_** gah, I haven't had the chance to see the sequel yet, but I do hear it's awesome. I'll include more cameos if I can come up with any. Any suggestions would be welcome. Hope you enjoy!

**_Night-Owl123, HanaTenshiHimeko_** this is a bit late, isn't it. Enjoy!

**_starry096_** but that would take all the fun out of it. Maybe the pursuers will smarten up a bit this chapter.

**_Goingcommando_** I'm glad you liked that little scene. It's my favorite line in the movie, with the possible exception of, "That conversation made a lot more sense this time." I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

**_Hurrahhurrah_** you should totally go see that movie again. Anyway I'm glad you liked last chapter; hope you like this chapter as well.

This weeks reviews:

Thanks to all of you, I hope you enjoy this chapter as well. Keep up with the great reviews! Sorry about lumping you all together; I'll give more personal responses next time!

**_Joy,_****_Wraith,_** **_Ulitheal, jAi0rOKu, starry096, Azamiko, DaRkDrEaMzzz, Alana-StarSugarCat, SolidAmerican, goingcommando, insanechildfanfic, Night-Owl123, krn-kimbap, HanaTenshiHimeko_** thanks; I'm glad you liked it so much!

**_L.Mc'Clown_** sorry about that. It was supposed to be in here, but I had to cut that scene because it didn't fit anymore. I hope you like it anyway!

This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.

**_wolvesm0on_** indeed, indeed.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

As I said, last chapter was really just filler again. Its end was the same day as this chapter; you'll figure it out during this chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

**Picture Day**

The next day began in much the same way as the rest of the week. As the two boys were assaulted with the first rays of morning, they were assaulted with the first of their pursuers. Naruto and Sasuke once again received an unwelcome wake up call from Kakashi and Sakura. "Why the hell won't this end?" Naruto asked groggily, not that he expected an answer from the deserted street.

When he ran into Sasuke an hour later it wasn't surprising that both ANBU captains were in particularly bad moods. Not only was this cutting into their sleeping times and vacation, but into valuable training sessions.

Not long after lunch that day – which Naruto and Sasuke were forced to skip because of their pursuers – Iruka-sensei really pulled through for them. "Ramen?" Sasuke asked, as the two jumped into the parade. A moment later, two identical copies of the two appeared and took off, leaving the two Jounin to ride a bit farther before parting from the parade.

"I love that man," Naruto stated, as the two continued to run.

"How did he do it?" Sasuke asked.

"He didn't," Naruto replied. "He had the Academy do it," he added a moment later.

"The Annual End of the Year Parade," Sasuke said a moment later grinning at the blond. "Quick in here," he added, dodging into a doorway. Naruto followed a moment later. Near Hokage Tower, two Naruto and Sasuke like figures did the same.

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"I hope you all enjoyed the Annual End of the Year Parade," Iruka-sensei said, smiling at the group from the doorway to Tsunade's office.

"We had to reschedule due to rain being in the forecast for the next several days," Hinata added politely next to him.

"I do love this year's theme," Iruka said. "Toto-sensei's class came up with it," he explained. "All of the students have been working so hard to get things ready in time," he added proudly.

Tsunade's entire office stared at the two blankly for a moment, before Anko and Ino began cracking up.

"Where'd they go?" Tsunade asked in confusion, as she switched the projector back on. "We just saw them in the hallway," she said, looking up at the two senseis.

"You didn't," Kurenai stated in disbelief.

"Didn't what?" Hinata asked her sensei innocently. Ino and Anko began laughing even harder.

"Where are they?" Kiba shouted from the doorway. "We followed those two as soon as we could," he added pointing Neji and TenTen.

"Where's who?" Hinata asked, turning to look at the three.

"Naruto and Sasuke," TenTen answered grinning. "We followed them up here as soon as we got past that parade," she added growling slightly.

"Kiba-kun, why don't you have Akamaru," Hinata asked.

"He was tired after everything yesterday," Kiba stated.

"Neji nii-san, did you have the byakugan activated?" she asked.

"No," he replied reluctantly.

TenTen stared at the two senseis in horror. "You didn't," she stated.

"Didn't what? Kurenai asked us the same thing," Iruka-sensei asked smirking.

"I know you helped them yesterday," Kiba said accusingly.

"So…" Iruka-sensei said, smiling at the Inuzuka boy.

"You really spend far too much time with Naruto," Kurenai said, looking at him.

"Indeed. My Eternal Rival's wonderfully powerful student has had a most invigorating, indelible effect upon you. That child's youth and exuberance has once more transformed you into the wisecracker of your youth," Gai said gravely.

Iruka blinked several times at the man's statement, before shrugging nonchalantly. "Enjoy the rest of your day," he said turning to leave. A smiling Hinata walked out after him, leaving behind three awestruck pursuers. "They will catch you," Iruka added, as he walked down the hallway.

"Hinata-chan just…" Kiba said, trailing off and looking over at TenTen and Neji.

"Apparently she doesn't just yell," TenTen stated.

"I can't believe Hinata-chan just helped him," Kiba said pathetically.

"Would you three hurry up and find that brat!" Tsunade yelled, snapping everyone out of their trances. "You have to find them by tonight; if they aren't ready by the end of tomorrow, Kakashi won't be the only one who'll pay for it," she added.

TenTen, Neji, and Kiba exchanged fearful glances, before turning and sprinting out of the room.

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XXXXXXXX

"Naruto, Sasuke-kun," Sakura shouted at the top of her lungs. Somewhere in Suna, Gaara wondered what the two Jounin had done this time.

"If you two come out, I promise we'll go easy on you tomorrow," she added. A moment later, she slapped her hand of her mouth. Kakashi had collapsed into a fit of laughter on the street. Half of the street's occupants were looking at her in shock, which quickly degraded into gossip.

"They're going to kill you," Kakashi said several minutes later, as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"Those two miscreants will not be allowed to harm my fair flower," Lee said, standing proudly beside the girl.

Kakashi glared at him slightly before turning away. He pulled out a scroll. When he finished the jutsu, five dogs of various breeds and sizes were standing in front of him. "Pakkun, you need to find Naruto and Sasuke. When you find them, alert me and keep them cornered," he said seriously.

"Oi, they didn't run away again, did they?" the little doggie asked.

"No," Kakashi said, "they're just being brats."

"Okay," Pakkun said before taking off; the other dogs quickly followed.

Barely five minutes later, as the three shinobi ran through Konoha, they heard the dogs howling. "That's our signal," Kakashi said happily, as he turned towards the dogs' sound.

"Hello, Naruto-kun," Kakashi said happily, dropping down behind the boy.

"Kakashi-sensei, I hate you," Naruto said before jumping away towards Sasuke and glaring at the older man.

"Ah, now that's not a nice thing to say to the sensei who spent so much time training you and preparing you for your future as the village's leader," Kakashi said still smiling.

"Flattery isn't going to work," Sasuke remarked.

"Fine, fine," Kakashi said. "Will this?" he asked, as Lee and Sakura dropped down behind the two boys.

"I hate you all," Naruto growled out.

When Sakura and Lee lunged at the two, two clouds of smoke met them, and they fell to the ground holding two sacks of potatoes. "Kawarimi," Sakura growled out.

"See you later," Naruto said, from about twenty feet away. And with that, the two ANBU captains had disappeared.

"Pakkun," Kakashi said simply. The dogs quickly took off after the two; Sakura, Lee, and Kakashi took off after them.

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XXXXXXXX

Half an hour later the two found themselves running through Hokage tower. They dove into Tsunade's office and under the rather large conference table that had been set up. For some odd reason the table had a large tablecloth over it that reached the floor, but the two ignored that and breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Above the table Tsunade, Jiraiya, the elders and several other random shinobi looked at each other in horror. Tsunade quickly shut off the projector, before she ducked her head under the table. "Umm, what are you two doing?" she asked.

"Hiding, so don't you dare tell Kakashi-sensei and Sakura where we are," Naruto said back.

"Right," Tsunade said, before sitting back up and shrugging to the others in the group.

A moment later, Jiraiya ducked under the table and grinned at Naruto. "So," he began innocently, "is what Sakura said the other day actually true," he finished.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at Jiraiya in horror for a moment, before quickly crawling out from under the table and jumping to their feet. "How the hell did you hear about that?" Naruto asked, pointing a finger at the older man accusingly.

"Ahh," Jiraiya said suddenly realizing his mistake, while Tsunade groaned behind him, "Genma told me," he finally said nodding. Fortunately for Jiraiya the two bought it and turned on Genma, who was now glaring at the Sennin.

"Genma I swear…" Naruto began when Sasuke interrupted.

"Naruto," Sasuke said, directing the blonde's gaze to the center of the table where Tsunade's crystal ball was sitting, currently displaying the two boys where they were.

"I don't believe it, you old hag," Naruto said, turning to look at Tsunade in shock. Tsunade looked away nervously, and the others shifted slightly in their seats. The two surveyed the room's occupants, growing more aggravated by the minute.

Sasuke turned to the Hokage in anger, but Naruto was a bit too distracted by the tiny toad trying to hide on Chouji's shoulder.

"I don't believe it," Naruto said painfully, catching the group's attention. Tsunade bit her lip lightly; she actually felt sorry for the brat. "My own summon," he said pitifully, staring at Gamakichi. He fell silent as he continued to gaze at the small summon.

"How long have you been watching this?" Sasuke shouted. Naruto continued to stare at the now guilty frog.

"Umm…" Tsunade responded, glancing off to the side. A moment later she looked back up and sternly declared, "Don't question me. I'm the Hokage, and a simple ANBU captain doesn't have the right to question me."

"My own summon," Naruto muttered miserably, breaking the hearts of every woman in the room – and some of the men.

"Snap out of it Naruto," Sasuke said, nudging the blond.

"Got you," Sakura shouted, as she jumped into the room from the window and then jumped at Naruto. Sasuke pulled the still numb blond out of the way and glared at his pink haired teammate.

"They in here?" Kakashi asked, as he rounded the corner and entered Tsunade's office.

Naruto snapped out of his trance long enough to shout, "This is all your fault Jiraiya!" The next moment Sakura, Lee, and Kakashi lunged forward at the two – and then collapsed into a pile onto the floor. Tsunade glanced down at the three in disappointment and then looked up at the smirking Uchiha that had attached himself and his pouting teammate to the ceiling.

"Where'd they go?" Kakashi asked stupidly, as he stood up. Genma sighed and innocently pointed up. "Hello," Kakashi said, smiling at his students.

Naruto and Sasuke glared at Genma, before releasing their footing. The two landed on the table and watched Kakashi waiting for him to make the first move. While they were waiting, Naruto glanced down and saw the Hokage's Looking Glass. He smirked at Tsunade and then looked back down. When Tsunade realized their mistake, she lunged forward, only to have the small globe snatched up by Naruto.

The blond inspected the small object before looking back up at the fuming Legendary Sucker. "So this belongs to the Hokage, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, you stupid brat so hand it over," she shouted at him.

"Neh," Naruto replied. "I think I'll just take it a little early," he added, as the two moved to leave. Time seemed to stop for a moment, before Tsunade slammed a hand down on the table and split it down the middle. The rest of the room's occupants jumped into action. Unfortunately for Genma, he was the only one that managed to get close enough to the blond. He snatched the looking glass from his hand and tossed it to Jiraiya, before dodging a punch from Naruto.

"I swear if I catch you using it on me again, I'll wait until your dead to become Hokage. And Genma, I curse you with erectile dysfunction disorder," Naruto shouted, as the two ran from the room.

Genma blinked twice before turning to Kakashi. "That kid has threatened me more in the past week, than he has in the five years since I met him."

"Does he even know what erectile dysfunction disorder is?" Sakura mused out loud.

Kakashi shrugged, before turning to Sakura. "Let's go," he said. Lee and Sakura took off after the other two. Kakashi followed a bit more leisurely until Tsunade shouted, "Two days!" He sprinted down the hall.

"Naruto-kun," he shouted when he exited the building. "I'll treat you to Ramen," he added.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

"So Kakashi said they meet with Tsunade in two days," Sasuke said, coming up from behind Naruto. The two continued to stroll through the village gaining the occasional wave or bow from passerbies. They had been able to evade their sensei and the rest of the pursuers ever since they had left the Hokage's office earlier that day.

"I suppose we should at least agree to get new clothes," Naruto finally said with a sigh.

"I suppose," Sasuke agreed.

They continued on in silence once more, "Naruto! Sasuke!"

"Shit," they said in unison, before taking off again

"Coward" they responded while running

Those on the street heard "Shut up!" shouted in symphony by the two ANBU captains as they skidded to a halt.

"This is getting creepy," they both stated.

"D-" Sasuke placed a hand on Naruto's mouth, "don't, just don't. How about we let them catch us and agree to go with them tomorrow?" he suggested, after several minutes.

Naruto mulled it over for a moment. "I guess, after all who knows what Tsunade would come up with to punish him if he didn't succeed," he finally said. "But lets wait until tonight so the panic really sets in," he added, before dashing off. Sasuke smirked and followed a moment later.

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XXXXXXXX

The two reached Team 7's old training grounds just as dusk began setting in. "Do you want to spar?" Sasuke asked.

"Sure," Naruto responded, taking a defensive stance about a meter away.

Sasuke smirked and slid into his own stance across from the blond. "When was the last time we did this?" he asked nonchalantly, lunging forward.

"A couple of months ago," Naruto answered, as he easily dodged Sasuke's attack. "I'm so going to kick your ass," Naruto responded.

"Yeah right dobe," Sasuke retorted childishly.

Naruto snickered at him. "You've been using that line since we were Genin," he said, dodging another attack.

"You still pissed off at Sakura?" Naruto asked, several minutes later. Their fight had remained relatively tame, much to both boys' surprise and disappointment.

"Not really," Sasuke responded.

"What does that mean?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing," Sasuke said, smirking at the blond.

Kakashi, Sakura and Lee finally found them half an hour later. They were still sparring.

* * *

AN: Nothing much to say. I hope you all enjoyed it. I might have the next chapter up Friday, but I'm not promising anything. Review and tell me what you thought. 


	15. Daily Ritual

AN: Hey guys! This chapter is a lot longer to make up for all the waiting you guys have done in the past. It also included two cute flashbacks. If there was one thing this story was lacking, it was flashbacks. I should warn you that while writing this I happened to here the dreidel song from South Park, so I got a bit… weird. I was also trying to plan like three new stories so… yeah. Enjoy!

Reviews:

**Azamiko** I'm glad you enjoyed the change of pace a bit.

**Crazy-antman, starry096,** **HanaTenshiHimeko,** **Alana-StarSugarCat,****Night-Owl123** I'm glad you liked it.

**DeusXM** umm… I'm not sure if you're review meant that you weren't going to read anymore, but thanks for answering the question. The reason I like slash is basically the same reason you don't like it. Then again, I'm a girl so I don't like chicks. If you are still reading this, the slash doesn't actually come in much.

**Harukakanata,****Shodaime Ramenkage** I'm glad you liked it. After this chapter there are two more. For more on that, check my note at the end.

**Wraith** thanks! Sorry about the confusion. He's not gay; I was just referring to the fact that he's perverted enough to realize it!

**Dual Rasengan** I'm glad you've liked it so much. Sorry, no kyuubi here.

**Insanechildfanfic** yeah, "sparring" hehe. Enjoy!

**Krn-kimbap** Tsunade turned off whatever jutsu she was using to project the image so that everyone could see it. If you've ever seen Sandaime use it, you'll understand that the image is still visible in the crystal ball. Sasuke just happened to look closely enough that he saw what was in it. Enjoy!

This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

**B** flashback

* * *

**Picture Day**

The next morning, a very smug Hatake Kakashi could be seen walking down the streets of Konoha. He was on his way to his favorite store. He knew he would find everything his team needed there. With Sakura's help, they would finish with the shopping by the time he had to meet Tsunade-sama the next day.

"You're late!" Sakura shouted at Kakashi when he strolled up. Standing behind the girl were her teammates, both looked incredibly amused.

Kakashi looked at her in confusion for a moment before glancing down at his wrist; he looked up a moment later grinning. _I forgot I don't where a watch anymore,_ he thought. "I'm not late today," he responded.

"Yes you are," Sakura shouted back at him.

"No he's not," Sasuke replied, pointing at his own watch. "He's actually a few minutes early," he added in amusement.

"Mah, if this is how you're going to treat me when I'm on time, I like coming late better," he said, "at least then I actually deserve to get yelled at."

"Can we just get this over with?" Naruto asked, resting his chin on Sakura's shoulder.

"Mah, you make it sound like a boring task," Kakashi said, pouting at his male students.

"It's stupid, and it wastes our time," Sasuke replied.

Kakashi frowned and pulled out his book; within a minute he was smiling giggling again. His students waited patiently for their sensei to notice them again. They had learned years ago that allowing him to read his book was the quickest way to put him in a good mood. They had also learned that, for the most part, Kakashi-sensei in a good mood meant less pain for them. Similarly, Kakashi had learned that his students expended only so much patience even when he was reading. He had quickly learned not to take advantage of it. _Sakura losing her temper at me is not a scene I want to repeat,_ he thought grimly as he sighed in contentment and put his book away.

"This way," he said, beckoning for the three to follow. Sakura skipped happily along side her sensei; she was the only one of his students looking forward to the potentially long day ahead of them. Sasuke and Naruto hung back torn between laughing at their teammates…and killing them.

Kakashi stopped at the end of the street and smiled up at one of his favorite buildings in Konoha. Suppanuku, despite its name, sold everything he owned, including his mask. It was the only clothing store necessary for the fashion conscious shinobi. Fortunately very few people knew of his precious gem of a store and so, like on most days he visited, it was currently empty. The only exception was Ayadonsu, the establishment's wonderful owner.

Ayadonsu bowed respectfully as Kakashi escorted his students inside. She had been hoping he would pass down his knowledge of the store to them. After all, they were three of Konoha's most eligible shinobi. Unless of course the rumors of late were true, in which case only two of them were even possibly still on the market.

"Welcome to Suppanuku. I hope you find everything you are looking for. If you need anything, I'll be in back. Kakashi knows how to find me," she said before walking away. _They'll be much more likely to relax if I'm not there,_ she thought smiling. She glanced back at the group once, before disappearing into a wall. The last thing she heard was the young Uchiha turning on his sharingan.

"How did she do that?" Naruto asked.

"Genjutsu," Sasuke replied. "It's a powerful one that hides the door in the wall. Probably a security measure against non-shinobi thieves," he added. Naruto and Sakura nodded in understanding.

"Well," Kakashi said, turning on his team. "Let's get started," he stated, much to the displeasure of Naruto and Sasuke.

"I still don't understand why we can't just wear our own clothing," Naruto mumbled.

"Tsunade wants the team shots to look organized," Kakashi explained.

"Organized?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi suddenly had no doubt that organization was a completely new concept to the blond. "Yes, she wants the team to… umm; I don't know how to explain it to you," Kakashi muttered, scratching the back of his head.

"She wants us to match," Sakura supplied.

"Why the hell would I want to look like him?" Naruto asked, pointing to Kakashi.

"My own students," Kakashi said pouting. Although it was meant as a joke, Naruto's face darkened imperceptibly as he remembered the scene in Tsunade's office the day before. Kakashi coughed once to snap the blond out of his growing depression. "She said we're supposed to coordinate," Kakashi elaborated a bit. Naruto blinked in confusion, and Kakashi rolled his eyes. _No matter how much he matures, he will always be a dunce_, he thought.

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**Training had finished for the day, and Team 7 was standing on the bridge preparing to part ways. Admittedly, they had no real training together any more. All three had reached Jounin level already and no longer worked together very often, but it was still fun to get together and train just like old times. As they stood there, Sakura looked at Naruto expectantly, almost hopefully.**

"**See you later," Naruto finally said, waving a hand as he walked away. **

**Sasuke watched in confusion as Sakura's face fell and she turned to him miserably. "He's been different lately," she muttered.**

**Sasuke merely mumbled "Hn," before turning and walking away.**

"**Sasuke, wait up," Sakura yelled, running after him. Half way down the street the pink haired girl caught up with her teammate and glared at him. **

**Sasuke smirked as Sakura panted up beside. "What?" he asked innocently.**

"**It's been a month since he's asked me out on a date," Sakura stated.**

"**Don't tell me you finally return his feelings," Sasuke said, turning to her.**

"**No," Sakura said, rolling her eyes, "but that's not the point."**

"**Then what is?" Sasuke asked.**

"**That was our thing," she said. When Sasuke looked at her in confusion, she sighed and explained, "Training would end. Naruto would ask me out on a date. I'd turn him down and ask you out on a date. You'd turn me down, and then we'd all wave and go our separate ways."**

**Sasuke blinked twice when Sakura had finally finished, and then he continued to stare at her until the girl began to fidget under his gaze. The Uchiha gave one final blink, before turning and continuing on his way. Sakura trotted along beside him until he finally asked, "Exactly how long has this been 'our thing'?"**

"**I don't know. A few months after the first Chuunin Exam, right after you got back I guess," Sakura said.**

**Sasuke glanced over at her for a moment. "That was when Naruto finally turned Hinata down," he said.**

"**Yeah, Tsunade began letting us go on more C-class missions, and Naruto started taking training even more seriously than before," Sakura stated, "You know, I think he really has a shot at becoming Hokage."**

"**If you're just now figuring that…" Sasuke began before his friend cut him off.**

"**Oh please, I've known that since the first Chuunin Exam when he beat Neji. I'm just saying that it's become obvious to everyone over the past several years," she said. After several minutes of silence, Sakura bit her lip slightly and asked, "Why do you think he finally decided to recognize Hinata's feelings and then turn them down?"**

"**He grew up," Sasuke stated bluntly.**

"**What do you mean?" Sakura asked.**

"**He noticed that Kiba liked Hinata. She was too blind to notice because she focused on him all the time. He decided it wasn't fair because his feelings weren't going to change anytime soon," Sasuke said.**

"**So he did it to help her move on," Sakura stated.**

"**Yeah," Sasuke said a bit uncomfortably.**

"**Sasuke," Sakura said several minutes later. She planted herself in front of him to make sure she would get a straight answer. "It's never going to happen, right?" she said.**

**Sasuke gazed at her for several minutes before sighing. "Sorry Sakura; it's never going to happen," he said.**

**Sakura sighed and shrugged. "Figures," she mumbled, gaining a befuddled look from Sasuke. "So I should move on?" she asked.**

"**That would be best," Sasuke stated. "Hanging on to a childhood crush will get you no where. My feelings won't change, but yours already have," he added smirking at her.**

"**Oh, shut up," Sakura said, smiling back.**

**The two continued to walk on in silence for several minutes, before Sakura turned to Sasuke mischievously. "So, if you don't like me," she said.**

**Sasuke rolled his eyes at her implied question. "I'm not gracing that statement with an answer," he quipped.**

"**Oh, come on. You can trust me," she claimed, smiling at him. "I won't tell a soul. Who's the lucky girl?" she added.**

**Sasuke gazed at her for a moment before turning away. "Sakura, it's not a girl," he responded, smirking slightly. **

**Sakura stopped dead in her tracks as she contemplated what he had said. "Wait a minute," she shouted, finally coming out of her trance, and realizing that Sasuke hadn't stopped to wait for her. "Does that mean you really do take after Kakashi-sensei?" she asked slightly horrified, once she had caught up to him of course.**

"**Yes, Sakura," Sasuke replied, "Next thing you know, I'll be reading _Icha, Icha Paradise_ as well."**

"**Wow," Sakura stated. "So who do you like?" she asked in excitement.**

"**You're handling this rather well," Sasuke stated.**

**Sakura waved off his statement and repeated her question, "Come on Uchiha, which lucky _boy_ has caught your attention?"**

"**What makes you think anyone has?" Sasuke asked.**

**Sakura rolled her eyes at his stubbornness. "Fine, if you won't tell me I'll just have to guess. You have to at least be attracted to someone," she decided proudly. Sasuke paused and raised an eyebrow at her. "Let's see, I know it's not Lee-san. Shino is too quiet, you two would never work; similarly, Kiba is too loud. Neji is very good looking, but there would be too much angst between the two of you," she stated causing Sasuke to glare at her. **

"**I don't angst," he stated.**

"**You are so lucky Naruto isn't here to hear you say that," Sakura said smiling at him. Sasuke's glare wilted slightly at the mention of his blond teammate and Sakura's eyes widened in shock. "That's it, isn't it?" she replied happily. "You like Naruto, don't you?" she said, hopping up and down happily.**

"**You seem incredibly pleased at that prospect," Sasuke stated smoothly.**

"**Am I right?" she asked, sidling up next to him.**

**Sasuke pondered for a moment and was about to reply when they were interrupted.**

"**Oh, so this is how it goes. The one day I decide to be brave and deny my undying love for the most beautiful kunoichi in the land, she finally gets a date with the bastard," Naruto said dramatically, dropping to hang upside down in a tree right in front of them.**

**Sakura grinned at him and shook her head not even bothering to say anything. "It's not a date dobe," Sasuke replied smirking, "we were planning ways to usurp your power when you become Hokage."**

**Naruto blinked, and his teammates could see the wheels turning as he decrypted what Sasuke had just said. "Whatever," he finally said with a shrug. "Hey, Ero-sennin isn't in town and there's nothing to do; you guys want to get lunch?" he asked.**

"**Oh, so we're entertainment now, is that it?" Sakura asked.**

"**Damn straight you are. The world is my entertainment," Naruto said with an over lavished bow that looked even funnier because he was still upside down on the branch. Sakura burst into giggles and collapsed onto the ground, as Naruto continued to give an overly dramatic speech from his perch.**

"**Let's go dobe," Sasuke said, reaching up and pulling Naruto down.**

"**Hang on, what time is it?" Sakura said, jumping up to her feet.**

"**About three forty five," Naruto replied.**

"**Well I have to go," Sakura said, turning to walk away and smoothing down her hair.**

"**Oi, where you going?" Naruto shouted after her.**

"**I'm going to try and catch Lee-san as he finishes training," she shouted back.**

"**Lee actually stops training?" Naruto said in confusion as he turned to Sasuke. After a moment, he seemed to finally realize what Sakura had said and turned to look at his teammate's retreating back in mock-horror. "I don't believe it. I've lost the epic battle for the pink haired flower's heart to _Thick Brows_," he shouted raising his voice even higher when he shouted his favorite nickname for Lee.**

**Sakura turned around and winked at the two, before disappearing around the corner. When she was gone, Naruto turned to Sasuke teary eyed, and for a moment Sasuke wondered if the other boy wasn't actually upset. That was until Naruto opened his mouth and whimpered, "Our little girl's all grown up."**

**Sasuke looked at him for a moment before laughing out loud and turning away from Naruto's ridiculous face. "Hold me," Naruto said, still pretending to cry.**

**"Get off dobe," Sasuke said, shrugging the giggling boy's arms off. **

**Naruto was interrupted from his giggle fit when he was immersed in a cloud of smoke. "Yo," Kakashi said, waving at the two. He looked down curiously as the smoke cleared to reveal a coughing Naruto. "You should get that looked at," he said sincerely. Naruto only glared at him and muttered obscenities about stupid sensei's who didn't look where they're landing. "Where's Sakura?" Kakashi asked, looking around.**

"**Trying to get a date with Lee," Sasuke replied smirking.**

**Kakashi stopped grinning and looked at the two seriously. "You're joking, right?" he said.**

"**Nope," Naruto said.**

"**I have to go stop her," Kakashi said turning to go. "Gai will never let me live it down if she dates Lee instead of one of you," was the last thing Sasuke and Naruto heard as he sped off.**

"**Did their rivalry get so pathetic that they had to bet on their students' love lives?" Naruto asked, turning to Sasuke. **

"**Was Kakashi-sensei actually stupid enough to believe Sakura would date one of us?" Sasuke replied.**

"**Well I don't know about you," Naruto replied, "but I stuck it out till the end. I really thought I had a good shot," he added jokingly.**

"**Neh, Sakura could never date you," Sasuke replied. "Especially if you become Hokage, if you become that powerful it just wouldn't work out," he added.**

"**True," Naruto agreed, "poor Lee, Sakura will wear the pants in that relationship. Speaking of pants… do you think she could use that power to get him out of spandex?"**

"**I hope so," Sasuke muttered, "because that is one of the most frightening things I have ever seen."**

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"We're not wearing masks," Naruto stated. Sakura and Sasuke nodded in agreement.

"I know, Tsunade-sama already told me I'm not allowed to let you wear them. I spoke to her last night to tell her that I had caught you," Kakashi had to pause speaking long enough for Sakura to stop laughing hysterically at the memory. "Anyway," he continued after Sakura had calmed down a bit, "Tsunade said specifically that there is to be no orange,"

"What?" Naruto shouted in outrage.

Kakashi ignored him and continued, "and no black."

"What kind of crackpot rule is that?" Sasuke shouted uncharacteristically.

"Sasuke-kun looks upset," Kakashi said jokingly.

"Shut up," Sasuke growled out.

"Kakashi-sensei, stop teasing Sasuke," Naruto added.

"Oh, now you're defending Sasuke-kun," Kakashi said, turning to face Naruto.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto shouted back.

"Only that you and he-" Kakashi's remark was cut off when Sasuke smacked him.

"Just ignore him Naruto," Sasuke replied.

"Oh, so he's just Naruto now," Kakashi said, smirking as he stood back up and rubbed the back of his head where Sasuke had hit him.

Sakura gazed at her teammates as they bickered with Kakashi-sensei. Not a day went by that she wasn't thankful they had remained close. Those three were like her family; they had become part of her daily ritual. _Even if we did change that ritual a bit_, she thought smiling

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**"You're late!" Sakura and Naruto shouted.**

**"Hmm… I overslept," Kakashi responded, causing all three former students to stare at him.**

**"You overslept, or you slept over?" Naruto asked slyly. All three students knew that Genma's apartment was much farther from their meeting place then their sensei's.**

**Kakashi grinned lightly and giggled perversely. "I think that means slept over," Sasuke said smirking.**

**"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura began, "Tsunade-sama told me that Jiraiya-sama was planning on ending the _Icha, Icha_ series," she said, trying to discover if their sensei was paying attention.**

**When the silver-haired Jounin didn't respond, Naruto sighed and turned away. "Forget about it Sakura. When Kakashi-sensei is thinking about Genma-san, he is more distracted than Lee trying to challenge Naruto to another game of rock-paper-scissors," Sasuke said.**

**"Don't say that about Lee-kun," Sakura said.**

**"What did you say about Lee?" Kakashi said suspiciously, snapping out of his Genma induced trance.**

**"I told Sasuke not to insult him," Sakura replied a bit defiantly. **

**Kakashi huffed and turned away from the girl. Naruto snickered causing Kakashi to turn on him as well. "It's your fault," he said to the blond.**

**"How so?" Naruto asked.**

**"If you had beaten Lee, I never would have lost this bet to Gai," Kakashi responded.**

**"It's your own fault," Sasuke countered. He ignored Sakura's grin as he continued. "If you were attentive enough, you would have known what was going to happen," he said.**

**"I pay plenty of attention to my precious students," Kakashi responded. "In fact, I've failed five teams from the academy since you three were promoted, just so I could pay attention to you," he added.**

**"You failed five teams from the academy so that you wouldn't have to watch a bunch of runts perform D Class missions," Naruto countered.**

**"Actually that was quite fun," Kakashi muttered. **

**Unluckily for him, all three of his students heard. "I knew it!" Naruto shouted.**

**"You had us take those missions just so you could get paid and not do anything," Sakura added. Sasuke simply glared at his sensei.**

**"Mah, that's not fair," Kakashi replied. Their argument quickly descended into chaos. **

**Tsunade found them half an hour later. Kakashi had Naruto in headlock, was sitting on Sasuke, and was attempting to subdue Sakura as well. For the first time in a very stressful week, the Hokage collapsed into a fit of laughter.**

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Kakashi finally shut the two boys up by grabbing some shirts and telling them to try them on.

Sakura glanced out the window as she waited for the two to come out of the dressing room. She smirked when she saw Gai-sensei and his team walk by. Throughout the week she had noticed TenTen and Neji growing steadily closer. She did a double take as they passed and couldn't help but grin. _Five years ago, I never would have taken Neji for a hand holding type of guy. Then again, five years ago I never would have guessed I'd end up dating Lee,_ she thought happily.

Speaking of her boyfriend, Lee was slowly trailing behind his friends and beloved sensei. She looked at him pitifully, but couldn't help laughing at him.

"Lee-kun, will you please tell us, your ever faithful team, what horrible phenomenon has dampened your ever youthful exuberance?" Gai asked.

Lee looked up at his sensei with wide eyes, not that anyone could tell that they were any wider than normal. The distracted look on his face seemed to pain his sensei, but Lee was unable answer his question. Sakura simply shook her head and turned when she heard Naruto behind her. "I think you may have scarred him for life," she said.

Lee turned when he thought he heard his lovely blossom's voice. Unfortunately, Sakura's presence was marred slightly by the blond standing beside her. He looked at the blond in stunned horror for a moment, but when Sasuke stepped up beside the other two, Lee's eyes widened even more and he took off in the other direction.

Back in Suppanuku, Kakashi's students were laughing hysterically at the poor boy's expense. Lee's team gave them one glance before taking off after him. "What was that about?" TenTen asked.

Neji merely shrugged in response and fought to keep up with his sensei.

"Seriously," Sakura said several minutes later when the three of them had calmed down. "I think Lee may have been permanently scarred," she said.

"It's not my fault," Sasuke said.

"Yeah, sure it isn't," Sakura replied.

"No it really wasn't," Naruto added.

"Wait you mean," Sakura said looking at the two in disbelief. Naruto smirked at the baffled girl and comprehension slowly dawned on her. "Well that is something I never expected," Sakura stated.

"What is?" Kakashi asked walking up to them.

"Nothing," Sasuke replied loftily. Kakashi glared at his students, but none of them said anything. Sakura was still trying to take in what they had told her, so she wasn't even aware her sensei had asked a question. _I can't believe it. If he claims it was his fault…that means Naruto…_ "Damn, about time," Sakura whispered as a silly grin made its way onto her face.

Kakashi got the feeling he had missed something really good.

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**Fifteen minutes after their spar began, Naruto managed to land a blow to the other boy that sent him skidding. Sasuke came to a stop several meters back. He attempted to get back up, but the blond quickly put a stop to that endeavor. Naruto had pounced Sasuke and was currently pinning the older boy down and grinning at him. "I win," Naruto smirked.**

**"Like hell you do," Sasuke replied. **

**Naruto only smiled widely at the other boy. "Admit it Sasuke; I won," he declared triumphantly.**

**Sasuke attempted to throw the smaller boy off of him, which was impossible to do since Naruto was using chakra to anchor himself to the ground. Naruto gave Sasuke an incredulous look. "Get off me, Naruto," Sasuke sighed.**

"**Don't feel like it," Naruto replied childishly. Sasuke gave him a disbelieving look and Naruto shrugged in return. "I have a question, and you won't answer it unless I make you," Naruto supplied.**

**_No matter how curious I am, I must not ask. I must not ask. I must not ask,_ Sasuke continued to repeat in his mind. His mantra failed when he glanced up into Naruto's face. The boy's eyes could break even the most steadfast and stubborn person. He had proven this during his short internship with Ibiki. Sasuke broke quickly when Naruto pouted slightly and his eyes glossed over. "What is it?" Sasuke sighed.**

**Naruto grinned triumphantly at Sasuke. "I just wanted to know if what Sakura said was true," Naruto finally asked.**

**Sasuke blinked at the blond boy in confusion, but Naruto simply smiled at him. _What did Sakura say?_ He thought. He went over the memories of the past several days, but could come up with nothing. _Wait, he doesn't mean,_ Sasuke thought as he recalled the girl's statement in the Jounin lounge. "Naruto are you talking about what she said to Neji and the others like five days ago?" he said cautiously.**

"**What?" Naruto replied. After a minute, his eyes widened. "No," he said like it was the stupidest suggestion in the world. "I know that's true," he added a moment later.**

"**Eh?" Sasuke replied.**

**Naruto rolled his eyes. "And people say I'm dense," he muttered.**

"**Then what the hell are you asking about?" Sasuke growled; he had given up attempting to mask his frustration.**

**Naruto rolled his eyes again and smirked down at Sasuke. "When you finally turned Sakura down," Naruto replied.**

"**I don't know what you're talking about," Sasuke muttered, trying to ignore the nagging feeling that was steadily growing in the back of his mind. _What the hell happened when I turned her down?_ He thought furiously.**

**Naruto sighed and shook his head at the other's frustration. "How is it you can call me a baka for years, when you're the one with the bad memory?" Naruto asked.**

**Sasuke thought back, but he couldn't come up with what Naruto was thinking of. **

**"You told her that I turned Hinata down to help her move on," Naruto supplied.**

**"Well then it's true," Sasuke said.**

**"That's not what I'm asking about," Naruto said pouting slightly. **

**If anything the pouting simply distracted Sasuke more. "I really don't know what you mean," Sasuke said.**

"**I also recall you telling her that you didn't angst," Naruto snickered out.**

**_Oh, that conversation,_ Sasuke thought. "Umm," he trailed off, causing Naruto to snicker out loud. **

"**You're an idiot Sasuke," Naruto said, grinning and getting up off of Sasuke.**

"**How did you even hear our conversation?" Sasuke asked.**

"**I told you guys, Ero-sennin wasn't in town. I was bored; so when I saw the two of you take off together, I followed. I was hiding in the trees, and I have really good hearing," Naruto added, still smirking.**

"**Hn," Sasuke replied. _I still don't know what he overheard,_ Sasuke thought trying to fight off his stupidity.**

**Naruto slid back into a fighting stance and Sasuke copied him. Sasuke was so distracted that it only took Naruto two hits to take him down. The blond sighed and walked over to his companion to help him to his feet. "Had enough for tonight?" Naruto asked.**

"**Eh?" Sasuke said in confusion.**

**Naruto shook his head at the other boy's behavior. _I really shouldn't have tried,_ he thought a bit sadly, _at least not in the middle of a perfectly good sparring session._ "Sasuke, just forget I brought up," Naruto finally stated. "Let's just try to get in some training," he added happily.**

**Sasuke nodded, but he couldn't actually stop thinking about it. _What did Sakura say that day?_ He thought. This time he actually managed a bit of multitasking. When the spar ended five minutes later, Sasuke had cornered Naruto. "I win," Sasuke said smirking. **

**Naruto blinked at him, before changing that to a glare. He lunged at the Uchiha attempting to regain his edge in the fight; he hadn't expected it to turn out this way. _I definitely didn't expect to still be sparring at this point,_ Naruto thought. His glare faded slightly turning into a silly little grin.**

"**She was telling the truth," Sasuke whispered, catching Naruto off guard. **

"**Eh?" Naruto responded.**

"**She was telling the truth," Sasuke repeated. He wondered if Naruto realized that he had backed the smaller boy into a tree. "Why did you want to know?" he asked smirking.**

**Naruto looked at Sasuke suspiciously before replying, "No reason."**

**Sasuke was slightly taken aback by Naruto's response, but he recovered quickly when he saw the small grin still playing across the other's face. He took another small step forward, and Naruto instinctively took one backwards to compensate. The blond stifled a small squeak when his back hit a tree, causing Sasuke to smirk even more.**

**"Teme," Naruto said in annoyance. He pushed at the other boy to no avail, causing Sasuke to look at him smugly. **

**"I have a question, and you won't answer it unless I make you," Sasuke replied, using Naruto's own words against him.**

**_Bastard,_ Naruto thought glaring lightly at Sasuke.**

**"Why did you want to know?" he repeated, leaning towards the blond.**

**Naruto glared at him. The smirk that replaced it a moment later should have alerted Sasuke to the devious plan lurking in the blonde's mind. _You asked for it,_ Naruto thought before closing the small gap.**

**_This is what I call sparring,_ Sasuke thought as he leaned into the kiss.**

**Kakashi, Sakura and Lee found them five minutes later. They were still sparring.**

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"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said, pointing at her teammates. Ten hours after entering Suppanuku, Kakashi turned to see that his work had paid off. Sakura sat comfortably to the side. She had only needed to try on three outfits to satisfy her sensei; in the end, he had picked the first one just to spite her. Naruto and Sasuke on the other hand had been forced to enter the dressing room four hundred and thirty three times. She had counted.

"Mah," Kakashi mumbled, looking over the two enraged boys. "I think that'll work," he finally said; his eyes curved up into a happy smile that seemed to infuriate the boys even more.

"You think?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi giggled slightly at his anger. "It'll work," he added quickly, when Naruto growled at him.

"Good," Sasuke replied. "You're paying for dinner," he added, smirking at the older man.

Kakashi's smile fell, and he looked at them with a very annoyed expression. "Only if it isn't ramen," he finally said.

"But I want ramen," Naruto stated, pouting at his former sensei.

Kakashi glared and averted his gaze just enough that he didn't receive a full blast of the blonde's pout. _Iruka-sensei is the only one I know with immunity to that look,_ he thought a bit angrily. It was sad how much the blond could get by pouting. "No ramen," Kakashi said resolutely.

"Barbeque?" Sakura suggested.

"Barbeque is fine," Kakashi answered.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"But, I want ramen," he said pitifully.

"He'll treat you to ramen later," Sakura said happily.

"Okay then," Naruto said cheerfully.

_His mood swings are scary sometimes,_ Kakashi thought, as he followed his team to the barbeque restaurant.

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When Team 7 had finished their dinner and lunch combined, Kakashi leaned back and watched in silence as the three goofed off. After several minutes, he sat up and looked each over appraisingly. "What's next?" he asked, shocking the three a bit.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked. "I thought we were finished with everything," he added, praying Kakashi wouldn't spring something else on them.

"I'm not talking about picture day," Kakashi replied. "We only have a little bit left for that, but I can't do any of it until we know when it actually is," he added nonchalantly. Naruto and Sasuke looked at him furiously, but Kakashi didn't give either the time to express their anger. "I mean what do you all plan on doing next. Career wise and all," he said.

Naruto and Sasuke quelled their anger slightly and joined their teammate in silent pondering. "Well," Naruto said, looking over at Sakura. "I expect wedding invitations within the next year," he added jokingly.

"The next year?" Sakura replied. "Please, it'll only take six months," she answered smirking. Even Kakashi joined in the laughter. Once they had settled down a bit, Sakura looked at her sensei a moment then shrugged. "I'm thinking about taking a team," she answered.

"Just thinking?" Naruto asked. "Just do it already; it's not like you can't fail the brats if you decide you don't want to teach them," he explained.

"It's not that simple Naruto," Sakura responded.

"It was for me," Kakashi countered.

"I don't know if I could teach a normal Genin team," she responded. "I specialize as a medic. I'm not sure I could handle kids with more chakra than me," she added.

"Unless Naruto somehow reverts to his twelve year old self that isn't going to happen," Kakashi said. "Your teammates may have accidentally tainted your perception of Genin teams. Most aren't as weird as the four you've known. Although technically, Asuma and Kurenai's teams were fairly normal," he added.

"You should do it anyway," Sasuke said.

"Yup, Sakura-chan's a genius," Naruto added childishly.

Sakura merely grinned at her teammates. Half an hour later, she stood in front of the Hokage and announced that she would like to be considered for taking on a Genin team during the upcoming academy graduation. Tsunade smiled at her and nodded.

And then she turned to Naruto and sweetly asked, "I'll just add you to the roster as well, shall I?"

"Not a chance in hell, Tsunade-baba," Naruto replied darkly. "I told you yesterday, I ain't making a single move for the title of Hokage till you are dead," he added.

"Stupid brat," Tsunade mumbled as she reached for a bottle of sake. _Sake is my only friend,_ she thought depressingly. Naruto rolled his eyes, and she wondered if she had said that aloud. _Judging by Uchiha's look, I did,_ she realized. _That boy needs to get laid,_ she thought after a moment. Judging by Sakura's laughter, she had said that out loud as well.

* * *

AN: Suppanuku, the name of the store, essentially means to unmask or expose. This is the reasoning behind Kakashi's joke.

The second flashback was basically pointless. I just wanted to put another one in there.

A quick note on Lee: I have nothing against him, nor am I trying to say that he is a bigot. His reaction to Naruto and Sasuke is me making fun of his naïveté and innocence. As you may have noticed in this chapter, Sakura has been trying to get a date with him for years, but he's been too dense to notice. When Sakura told the entire group that Naruto and Sasuke were gay, Lee didn't seem to comprehend the concept very well. For someone that naïve, it would be a bit of shock to come upon two guys "sparring".

As I said in a review response: there are only two more chapters to this story. If you want an epilogue, I may write one. However, the epilogue will not come out right away. If I write one, I will take the time to edit this story a bit before posting it.


	16. It Must Be a Blond Thing

AN: It's been while. To save you all time, I answered reviews at the bottom. Sorry about the wait. There's also a note about the epilogue at the bottom. I'd appreciate it if you guys could read and respond to it, thanks!

I'll try to have the next chapter up Monday or Tuesday of next week, but no promises.

Also just to tell you this chapter has the b word that rhymes with witch in it several times. If this offends you, please don't read (or at least ignore the word).

This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

**B** flashbacks (sorry I forgot to put this in last chapter)

And now onto the story as I continue to torture Lee, make fun of Naruto, and threaten people. Enjoy!

* * *

**Picture Day**

The end of the week came and Tsunade, although suffering from a hangover, glowed as each of the senseis and their helpers announced that they had completed their tasks. Kakashi's smugness took the cake and seemed to be infuriating Kurenai.

"Well," Tsunade started happily. Jiraiya snorted at some unknown joke and was swiftly knocked out by the impassioned blond Hokage. "As I was saying, since you've all completed your task, I've decided that we'll hold the picture day next Friday. Missions have been a bit slow lately, so I'll hand most of them down to Chuunin who need experience. You and your teams have the next week off as well," she continued without missing a beat

"Wonderful Hokage-sama!" Gai exclaimed. "We must each use this virtuous gift well and spend this auspicious week with our youthful and-" Thanks to Tsunade's fist, Gai joined Jiraiya in la la land.

"Anyways, I hope you all enjoy yourselves. Use this time to relax so that everyone looks nice and rested in their pictures," Tsunade said happily; she was doing her best to ignore the gurgling sounds coming from the two unconscious men on the ground.

She smiled sweetly at the group, before glancing down at Jiraiya's twitching body and sighing. "You're dismissed," she said, reaching down and grabbing Jiraiya's collar. She walked to the door dragging him along and threw the Toad Sennin out. The others shook their heads in amusement, before grabbing Gai and walking through the door. "And Kakashi-kun," Tsunade said, as he walked past her. "They'd better look good," she said sweetly.

Kakashi smiled smugly at her and walked through the door. Tsunade was about to shut it when she heard the Copy Nin speak. "Hokage-sama, after they caught you, did you actually stop watching?" he asked.

Tsunade got the feeling he was laughing at her. "Of course I did. I'm not stupid enough to risk them catching me again," she added.

Kakashi merely chuckled and turned to walk away.

"What did we miss?" she asked suspiciously, while kicking Jiraiya to wake him up.

"Nothing," Kakashi replied innocently.

"Eh?" Jiraiya said, rubbing his sore head and trying to catch up on the conversation.

Kakashi merely waved his little orange book and walked away.

"That man is infuriating sometimes," Tsunade whispered, pulling Jiraiya back into her office.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

The rookies and Gai's team were all gathered at Ichiraku's celebrating their second week off in a row. This time Naruto and Sasuke were actually able to join them. Admittedly, neither boy seemed to be enjoying the current conversation. "I still don't understand why you ran from them for almost a week and then just gave up," Chouji said.

"We didn't just give up," Naruto responded indignantly.

"Yeah they just got distracted sparring and we caught them," Sakura said with a gleam in her eye. Lee coughed up his mouthful of Ramen and his eyes went slightly wild.

"Lee, what is wrong? This has been happening for two days now," TenTen said. Lee shook his head frantically and refused to look anyone in the face.

"So what's everyone wearing?" Ino asked.

"Yeah what was up with that whole coordination thing?" Kiba asked stupidly.

"Tsunade-baba wanted the team shots to look organized," Naruto responded. A moment later he mumbled, "Why do I even bother?" when everyone looked at him in shock. "She wanted to torture us," the blond appended.

"Oh," Kiba said, nodding in understanding. Sakura rolled her eyes at their behavior.

"So what's everyone wearing?" Ino repeated excitedly.

"We're not allowed to tell," Sakura said smiling.

"Eh?" Ino said.

"Kakashi-sensei's orders," the pink haired medic explained.

"As long as Naruto wears his pajama pants," TenTen said, teasing the blond. Naruto turned to glare at her, which saved him from noticing that Neji was glaring at him, which saved Neji from noticing that Sasuke was glaring at TenTen as well. Everyone else wasn't quite so distracted.

"Nothing particularly special," Hinata said.

"Same here," TenTen replied.

"Elaborate," Ino said.

"Shizune-san preferred to dress us up," TenTen began, "It was the only way to get Lee and Gai-sensei out of spandex."

"Thank you," Naruto whispered, causing the others to laugh out loud. Sakura glared at him lightly as she checked to make sure that her boyfriend hadn't heard their jokes. Lee was as oblivious as ever.

"They're wearing suits, although Lee and Gai-sensei both picked green ones. Luckily, it's a darker shade," TenTen continued.

"Please tell me she didn't put Neji in green," Ino said. Neji rolled his eyes and leaned back. It was more than obvious that the only participants in this conversation were female. _I doubt they even remember we're here,_ he thought, turning to see that the other guys were just as bored as he was.

"Like I'd let that happen," TenTen responded, "besides Shizune happens to have very good taste. His suit is light gray."

"That is the perfect color for his eyes," Sakura cut in. Neji glared at Naruto when he snickered beside his teammate.

"Do they even realize we're still here?" Shikamaru questioned lazily.

"No," Neji responded. "They forgot the moment Ino mentioned clothing."

"Then why don't we leave," Naruto suggested.

"What are you wearing, TenTen-chan?" Hinata asked sweetly.

"Good idea," Chouji said, standing up.

The others followed and made it out the door, while TenTen described the gray skirt Shizune had chosen to match Neji's suit and the green mandarin collared blouse that would coordinate them with Gai-sensei and Lee.

"Sweet, sweet freedom," Naruto muttered, as the eight teens walked down the street. Lee was very cautious to remain as far away as possible from Naruto and Sasuke.

"Well now that we have it, what are we going to do with it?" Chouji asked.

"Let's not do anything," Shikamaru suggested.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

That's just what they were doing an hour later when the girls found them. Sakura snickered and pulled out a camera. Seeing eight of Konoha's most overworked shinobi doing nothing but cloud watching was quite a treat; a treat that Sakura would make sure the Hokage could immortalize for the whole town. After she had snapped the picture, she walked over and lay down next to Lee. Ino and Hinata walked over to their teammates, and TenTen sat down by Neji.

When the Hokage's aid found the group an hour later, he followed Tsunade's first order and took several pictures. How the Hokage knew exactly what angles he should take the pictures from, he honestly didn't know. After he took the last picture, he scanned over the group. The Hokage's apprentice had curled up next to the boy in green spandex; both appeared to be sleeping. At some point the elder Hyuuga had sat up and pulled his ex-teammate closer to him. The girl had fallen asleep, while the Hyuuga was lazily talking with Nara-san and Aburame-san.

The Inuzuka boy had fallen asleep as well. His teammate, the academy sensei, was sitting next to him playing with Akamaru and speaking with Chouji and Yamanaka-san. Naruto-san and Uchiha-san were speaking quietly about ten feet from the others. _Is it just me or are they lying really close together_? The aid thought; he shrugged it off figuring it had something to do with the whole best friend, rivalry thing they had going on. He took a deep breath and approached the group.

"Can we help you?" Neji asked, shifting. Unfortunately, his statement woke the others up as well.

"I apologize for interrupting you," the aid said, bowing slightly. "Uchiha-san," he continued, turning to Sasuke, "Godaime-sama would like to see you in her office."

Sasuke turned to look at the aid angrily. "Why?" he asked.

The aid looked at him in surprise. _Uchiha-san normally follows the Godaime's instructions, unlike Naruto-san,_ he thought. "She did not tell me anything specific. The Godaime merely said that she would like to speak with you in her office."

The majority of the group, especially those that had been sleeping, were now glaring at the Hokage's poor aid. Sasuke ignored the aid and turned to Naruto. "You think I could get away with not going by claiming it was my week off?" he asked. The rest of the group snickered, but the aid looked at him in horror.

"Uchiha-san," the aid said a bit out of turn, "you cannot simply ignore the Hokage's request."

"Sure he can," Naruto responded for Sasuke. "Tell Tsunade that if she leaves Sasuke alone for the rest of the week, I'll reconsider taking over her position in time for her to enjoy her retirement," he added. Those that had heard his threat the day before chuckled.

"B-but," the aid stuttered. _I can't say something like that to the **Hokage**,_ he thought panicking slightly.

"Look," Naruto said when the aid began to sweat. "Tell baa-chan," the aid's eyes widened, he had heard that Naruto-san used incredibly familiar terms for the Hokage but that was just insulting. "Fine, tell the Hokage, that she gave us the week off, and there is no way in hell I'm letting her ruin it for any of us," Naruto claimed. "It wouldn't be amenable of her," he added loftily.

"You're so adorable when you use big words and try to sound smart," TenTen snickered. Naruto glared at the annoying girl before giving up and lying back down.

The aid looked stricken by Naruto's message, and Sakura knew why. Tsunade would be furious if he said any of that. "Just tell Tsunade-sama that Sasuke-kun will speak with her when he has a free moment," Sakura said to the aid.

"No I won't," Sasuke muttered.

"Yes, you will," Sakura said forcefully, glancing at the aid from the corner of her eye.

"Fine," Sasuke said, "but I won't be free for the rest of the week," he added under his breath.

"Damn straight you won't," Naruto agreed.

"Go away," Sasuke said, turning to the aid that was still standing there.

"Of course, Uchiha-san," the aid said before hurrying away.

"I think you might have scared him," TenTen mused aloud.

"Serves him right," Kiba muttered, "that little brat ruined my nap."

"Then go back to sleep," Sakura said, curling up next to Lee again. Within ten minutes the group had returned to the peacefulness they had shared before the interruption.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

That night the sun set over Konoha and signaled the end of a peaceful day for the resting shinobi. Reluctantly they rose and prepared to go; well, most of them rose. Sakura refused to wake up, so Naruto easily convinced a blushing Lee to take her home. Similarly, Ino refused to wake up from her nap. "When did she fall asleep?" Shikamaru asked, as he stood up lazily and stretched.

"I don't remember," Chouji said.

"About an hour ago," Hinata supplied, helping Kiba to his feet.

"Which is when we were supposed to meet your father," Neji said, smirking at his cousin.

"I seem to have lost my watch; how irresponsible of me," she stated, hiding a grin.

"Just carry her," Shikamaru said to Chouji, shrugging, "We're all supposed to meet at her house anyway, although we may have missed dinner."

"Neh, they wouldn't have eaten without us," Chouji said, picking up his slumbering teammate.

"You two heading in?" TenTen asked Naruto and Sasuke.

"Not yet, baa-chan will probably have Ero-Sennin and Kakashi-sensei ready to pounce on us the moment we get back into town," Naruto said shrugging.

"See you tomorrow then," Kiba said walking away. Akamaru bounded over and said a slobbery goodbye to the two boys before following Kiba home.

Once the others had disappeared, Naruto plopped back down and sighed. "So why do you think she wanted to see you?" he asked.

"Don't know," Sasuke replied. "Will she really send Jiraiya-sama after you," he asked smirking.

"She will if the messenger told her what I said the first time. That old hag is desperate to retire. The council won't let her gamble while she's still in office, 'said it wasn't proper conduct," Naruto answered, chuckling.

"Yo!" Kakashi said, interrupting the two as he poofed in accidentally landing on Naruto. Naruto shoved his sensei off and glared at him until Kakashi nervously scratched the back of his head and turned to Sasuke. "Hokage-sama wants to see you," he said, taking a step away from both boys.

"Like I told the aid, it's my week off," Sasuke retorted, sitting down next to Naruto and looking up at Kakashi impishly. Kakashi was appalled by the childish behavior of his students. He looked down at them both and was prepared to begin lecturing, when Naruto looked up at him with watery blue eyes. "Kakashi-sensei," Naruto started. Kakashi glared down at the blond, but couldn't look away.

He also wasn't able to say no, which is why he found himself back in the Hokage's office twenty minutes later without either of his former students. He looked at the Hokage nervously and scratched the back of his head as the tick on Tsunade's forehead grew larger. "Where is he?" she finally growled out.

"They didn't want to come," Kakashi stated.

"I don't care what they want," Tsunade said, throwing her hands up, "Why didn't you make him come?"

Kakashi looked at her for a moment before turning away. "Naruto used his puppy dog eyes," he admitted ashamedly.

"Oh," Tsunade said, "never mind then. I'll try again tomorrow."

Kakashi fought the urge to snicker, apparently Iruka really was the only one not to fall for Naruto's puppy dog eyes.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

"Stop worrying," Shikaku said to his wife and her friends as they glanced out the window for the eleventh time in less than twenty minutes. He had been counting.

"We'll stop worrying when they get here," his wife, Yoshino, replied.

"It's their week off," Chouza said, "they probably lost track of time with their friends."

"Speaking of their friends," Yamanaka Yuki said, like her daughter Yuki was quite the gossip. "I hear Sakura might settle down with that nice boy: Maito Gai's student. Now if only Ino would take her example," she added.

"Do you mean Rock Lee?" Yura asked. Her son Chouji had told her all about that nice boy. "I hear his students simply love him. He'll make a good a father," she added.

"I just wish Shikamaru would stop hanging around that hussy from Suna," Yoshino said.

"You wouldn't be saying if that if he was engaged to her," Shikaku muttered. Chouza and Inoichi chuckled, hoping that their wives hadn't overheard.

"There they are," Inoichi said, pointing to the figures walking down the street.

"Is something wrong with Ino?" Yura asked, as the group drew closer.

"She's probably just asleep," Inoichi replied.

His wife glared at him and hurried to open the door for the three teens. "What's wrong?" she asked as they walked in.

"Too troublesome," Shikamaru muttered. "She fell asleep," he hurriedly added, when his mother and Yuki glared at him.

"What were you doing that caused her fall asleep?" Yuki asked him suspiciously.

"Nothing," Shikamaru replied honestly.

"Nothing?" his mother asked. "Just like you were doing nothing when that nice Mitarashi woman had to ask Naruto-san to threaten you."

"No," Shikamaru replied.

"We were just relaxing," Ino said waking up.

Shikamaru looked at her suspiciously before saying, "You were awake the whole time, weren't you?"

"Would I do that to you?" Ino asked innocently, ignoring the snickers of her mother and her friends.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered before being smacked over the head by Ino.

"By the way," Ino intoned happily. "You owe us money!"

"Why?" Shikamaru asked.

"Are you blind?" she asked, "Did you not see how they were acting today?"

"That was proof of nothing," Shikamaru stated.

"They were practically lying on top of each other, and I swear Sasuke had to stop himself from draping his arm around him," Ino said patronizingly.

"That's normal for them," Shikamaru stated, baffling the adults even more.

"Sasuke was glaring at TenTen when she made fun of Naruto," Chouji said a bit meekly.

"He always glares when people insult Naruto, which happens all the time," Shikamaru countered.

"Yeah, but Naruto normally hits him for it," Ino stated, smiling impishly.

"Naruto was too busy glaring at TenTen himself," Shikamaru countered a bit desperately.

"Oh, just admit they're dating," Ino said stubbornly.

"Who's dating?" her mother asked excitedly.

"Naruto and Sasuke," Ino said offhandedly, before slapping her hand over her mouth. She turned to look at the awestruck adults nervously.

"None of you are to repeat that," Chouji stated.

"Figures," Yuki muttered, "it's always the handsome ones."

"I agree, first Kakashi and Genma; now Naruto and Sasuke. What a pity," Yoshino admitted.

"Always the handsome ones," Inoichi said wryly. His wife and the other three women all nodded somberly. "Then what do we qualify as?" he asked.

"Roguishly handsome?" Ino suggested. Inoichi rolled his eyes at his daughter's comment but didn't pursue the topic as they sat down for dinner.

When the group had finished eating their rather later dinner, Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji found themselves outside once more relaxing. "So what are you both doing for the next several days?" Chouji asked.

"I was going to try and skip town," Shikamaru said.

"Poor Shika-chan," Ino simpered, pinching his cheek. "Not enough time to make it to Suna, satisfy Temari, and make it back?" she asked cheekily. Shikamaru glared weakly at her before shrugging and turning away. After several more minutes, Ino stood and dusted off her skirt. "I'm going to get something to drink; do either of you want anything?" she asked. Both boys shook their heads negatively, so Ino turned and walked in side.

"So troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, as Ino walked away.

"How can you possibly find anything to complain about now?" Chouji asked, looking appalled by his friend's behavior.

"Ino is always troublesome, she's a woman and therefore troublesome," he explained. Chouji chuckled and turned away. _This is going to be an interesting week,_ he thought.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

Interesting was definitely the word to describe the upcoming week. Although the first day of their vacation had passed in relative silence, the sound level of the next morning set the tone for the rest of the week. "SHE WHAT?" Naruto shouted, waking up the few late sleepers in Konoha.

Sasuke blinked twice and tried to figure out what he could have possibly said to set off the blond. After several minutes, he still couldn't come up with anything so he repeated his earlier statement. "I said I spoke with Tsunade-sama this morning. She's promoting me to head of the ANBU department," he said.

"That scheming, slippery, duplicitous bitch," Naruto growled out.

"Duplicitous?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto was red with rage when he turned to glare at his new boyfriend. "Shut up," he hissed, before storming out leaving behind a very dazed and confused Uchiha heir. As he watched Naruto stalk away, he thought back to that morning and tried to figure out what had just happened.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

**"Good morning, Sasuke-kun!" Kakashi said, from Sasuke's window ledge. **

**Sasuke stared at him for a moment thanking what ever deity had made sure he had dressed in the bathroom that morning. "What?" Sasuke finally growled.**

**"Tsunade-sama wants to see you," Kakashi said happily.**

**"I was informed of that yesterday," Sasuke said, walking towards his dresser to find his forehead protector. "I didn't meet with her yesterday because it was my week off. It is still my week off, so I'm not going to meet with her today," he told Kakashi.**

**_Thank Kami Sasuke doesn't use the puppy dog eyes_****Kakashi thought. "Yes well, I'd recommend you do meet with her today. You'll probably like what she has to tell you," Kakashi said coyly, as he pulled out his favorite orange book.**

**Sasuke looked at him suspiciously for a moment before shrugging. "Fine, but she better not waste any of my time," he said as he walked out.**

**Half an hour later, he was greeted by what should have been a suspiciously happy Hokage. Unfortunately, Sasuke was nowhere near as good at reading his Hokage as he was at reading Naruto, so he was unaware that the wicked grin on her face meant anything dangerous. "Good morning, Sasuke-kun," Tsunade said. Her cheerful tone would have immediately set off warning bells for the majority of her subordinates, but Sasuke had more important things on his mind. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me so early. I apologize for taking up your vacation time, but this really can't wait very long," she explained.**

**The only sign that Sasuke was paying attention was the slight lift of an eyebrow. Tsunade took this as a good sign and continued. "Makoto-san is retiring," she stated.**

**Sasuke looked up at her in confusion. "When?" he asked. This was the first he had heard of the man's plan. He hadn't expected the head of the ANBU department to retire this early.**

**"He handed in his notice a week and a half ago, which gives him another few days on the job. We talked it over yesterday for some time. Our unanimous decision was to pass on his position to you," she said, watching him.**

**"Okay," Sasuke said, not very sure how to reply.**

**"Do you accept?" Tsunade asked. Sasuke really should have been more suspicious of the glint in her eye.**

**"Umm…" Sasuke muttered a bit taken back by the sudden proposal. "Can I have some time to think about it?" he asked.**

**Tsunade looked a bit disappointed by the boy's reluctance, but she covered it well. "You can have some time. But I'd really like an answer by the end of the week. That will give me time to look through other candidates should you choose to turn it down," she said.**

**Sasuke nodded shortly and walked out.**

**An hour later, he ran into Naruto. Five minutes later the blond left in a rage.**

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

"Tsunade, I can't believe you," Naruto shouted, storming into the Hokage's office. The various shinobi throughout Hokage Tower grimaced as visions of confrontations danced through their little-who-heads. The four shinobi in Tsunade's office looked up at the intruder; one of them wasn't quite as surprised by the irate blond as the others. In fact she seemed to be enjoying his anger.

"Is there a problem, Naruto-kun?" Tsunade inquired innocently, taking a seat behind her desk.

"You're promoting Sasuke to head of ANBU, how could you?" he shouted furiously.

"But Naruto-kun, I was under the impression that you were after my job. Why are you angry that Sasuke is receiving the promotion he was after? It isn't like it directly affects you," she said, inspecting her nails.

Naruto glared fiercely at the blond Hokage and growled. "You devious old hag," he growled out. "I can't believe you would do this," he said, calming down enough to look a bit hurt by Tsunade's actions.

Tsunade was torn between actually feeling bad and laughing maniacally due to the success of her plan. "Really Naruto, you should be happy for Sasuke-kun. It's not everyday that a seventeen year old is deemed capable of heading the ANBU division," she said, praying Naruto wouldn't use his puppy dog eyes.

"You know perfectly well why I'm pissed off at you," Naruto hissed.

"Now really Naruto," Tsunade began, before she was cut off.

"You are being deliberately antagonistic," he said.

"Deliberately antagonistic?" Tsunade repeated. "Where did you learn those words?" she asked chuckling.

Naruto growled at the infuriating blond. "From you, you old hag," he hissed, before turning and storming out of her office.

Tsunade waited until the younger blond had slammed her door, before breaking down into peals of laughter. If Naruto intended to torture her, she was just paying it right back.

Jiraiya had remained silent throughout the entire scene and now looked to Tsunade in confusion. "So why is it a big deal?" he asked.

Tsunade looked at him smiling widely. Shizune and Iruka glanced up from their work and shook their heads at the Hokage. "Have you ever actually read through the rule book?" Tsunade asked, trying to stop her laughter and failing miserably.

"Of course not," Jiraiya said, "but neither has the brat."

"Yes he has," Iruka said. "I made him study it after he was promoted to Jounin," he explained.

"Exactly," Tsunade said proudly.

"It's not really fair of you to take advantage of that rule," Iruka said, looking at Tsunade in disappointment.

"Now Iruka-kun," she said turning to the young man. "I want you and Shizune to be very careful when you separate the teams. I want Naruto and Sakura to have excellent teams," she explained.

"You know Tsunade-sama, even if he does resign from ANBU, which will happen if Sasuke takes the promotion, he might choose not to take a team just to piss you off," Iruka suggested.

Tsunade's grin faulted slightly at the small flaw in her plan. "Nonsense," she said straightening her shirt and recovering. "He'd get bored as a regular Jounin," she said, more to reassure herself than anyone else. Iruka shook his head and went back to studying the class lists.

Shizune glanced up just long enough to remind the Hokage that she had work to do before returning back to her own work.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

Naruto disappeared for the rest of the day much to the concern of his friends. The next day Sasuke managed to catch him as he left his apartment. "What the hell was up with the disappearing act?" he asked, as he fell into step beside his boyfriend.

"Nothing," Naruto muttered, avoiding Sasuke's gaze.

"Yeah right, what the hell did I say that pissed you off? All I told you was that I was offered a promotion," Sasuke explained.

"A promotion that no one expected to happen for another year, Makoto-san was supposed to officially retire at that point. How do you explain the fact that he's resigning early?" Naruto said, still staring at his feet.

Sasuke looked at him in confusion. "What are you saying?" he finally asked.

"It's nothing Sasuke," Naruto muttered, trying to shake off the other boy. He really didn't want to be around others at the moment.

"Even if it is a bit early, why are you so upset about it? You weren't after the job, right?" he asked.

"No, I wasn't. It really is nothing Sasuke," Naruto said.

"Nothing doesn't cause you to blow up at me and then storm into the Hokage's office," Sasuke stated.

Naruto stopped and sighed. "Look, Tsunade's just starting to get on my nerves," he said.

"That still doesn't make sense," Sasuke said.

"Are you accepting the promotion?" Naruto asked.

"Hell yeah," Sasuke replied. "It may have been a shock to get it this early, but there isn't a chance I'm turning it down."

"Then don't worry about it," Naruto mumbled.

"What was that about?" Sakura asked sidling up next to Sasuke, as Naruto walked away.

"Is there a reason it would be a problem for me to be promoted?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Sakura inquired.

"Yesterday morning I told him that Tsunade offered me Makoto-san's job. He's been like this ever since then," he replied.

Sakura bit her lip and looked at Sasuke nervously. "Are you taking the job?" she asked. Sasuke nodded not taking his eyes off of Naruto's retreating figure. "Go give your answer to Tsunade," Sakura said. Sasuke turned to look at her in confusion so she went on, "Look it isn't actually a problem; Tsunade is just being a little mean." Sasuke gazed at her in confusion for a moment, before shrugging and turning away.

When he walked off, Sakura bit her lip and followed carefully. She was sure he knew what she was doing, but she figured Sasuke would ignore her if she seemed to be trying to be stealthy.

Sasuke knocked on the door to Tsunade's office and was quickly admitted entrance. "What can I do for you?" Tsunade asked, not bothering to look up from her work.

"I accept the job," he said, immediately catching her attention.

"Excellent!" Tsunade shouted, jumping up from her desk. The twinkle in her eye immediately put Sasuke on guard as he remembered Sakura's words.

"Why exactly would this bother Naruto?" he asked, looking at her cautiously.

Tsunade's grin didn't fade a bit as she turned to him. "Oh, he's just being a baby. Probably upset you gained your promotion before him," she explained, waving off his concern.

"If that were true, he would have dropped out of ANBU and taken a Genin team when you first started bothering him a year ago," Sasuke replied.

Tsunade simply smiled and sat back down behind her desk. After being ignored for several minutes, Sasuke gave up and left.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

"Did you give her your answer?" Sakura asked when she found Sasuke later that day eating lunch.

"Yes," Sasuke stated.

"And nothing I tell you will make you take that back, right?" she asked nervously.

"What?" Sasuke asked, turning to look at her.

"Look if Naruto didn't say anything to you, it meant he didn't want you to turn down the promotion. He's probably wants to handle it himself," Sakura explained.

"What?" Sasuke asked again.

"Do you promise?" Sakura asked, sitting down next to him.

When Sasuke finally decided that she wasn't going to explain further until he promised, he nodded in acceptance of her condition. "Okay, there is a little known rule. My guess is that only about ten people even still know about it, unfortunately Tsunade is one of those people. Naruto and I do as well," she began.

"What's the rule?" Sasuke asked, as dread began to descend on him.

Sakura bit her lip once more before leaning in and whispering to him. Once she had finished, Sasuke's eyes grew wide and he stared at Sakura for a moment. She grew frightened when his eyes narrowed again and he stormed off. She followed nervously wondering who was going to become the target of her teammate's fury.

She found out when she realized with dread that Sasuke was heading towards the mission room. Tsunade always helped hand out the lower mission assignments at this time of day. She quickly sped up and reached Sasuke's side just as he reached the door.

Inside the mission room, Tsunade looked up when she saw the door open and then quickly shut. "Sasuke you'll regret doing anything rash," she heard Sakura say. The others in the room looked around in confusion, but Iruka looked up at her and smiled. She smiled back smugly before turning to face the door. She could still hear Sakura pleading with Sasuke to reconsider.

The pink haired girl's pleading failed, and Sasuke stormed into the mission room while Sakura followed meekly. Much to the surprise of the lower level shinobi, Sasuke stormed right up to the Hokage and leaned down so that they were eye to eye. "You have no shame, do you?" he asked.

Tsunade smirked at him, completely disregarding everyone else. "When you're born with a chest like this, you learn not to have shame," she said, winking at him.

"You weren't born with a chest like that, you flat-chested bitch," Jiraiya snorted from his spot against the wall. Tsunade glared at him and tried to remember when he had come in before Sasuke recalled her attention.

"Do you really think tormenting him is going to get him to take over your job any sooner?" Sasuke asked.

"No, but it amuses the hell out of me," Tsunade answered.

"How he could have been stupid enough to believe that you would be a good Hokage, I will never know," Sasuke stated, standing back up.

Tsunade glared at him for a moment before smirking. "Well if I hadn't taken the job, you'd be talking to Jiraiya right now," she said.

Sasuke glared at her. "He was right. You are just a scheming, slippery, duplicitous bitch," Sasuke growled turning to go.

Tsunade looked at him in shock for a moment. The rest of the room was trying to decide why one of the best ANBU captains had just exploded at their Hokage. "He called me that?" Tsunade muttered in confusion. _Maybe this game just went a little too far,_ she thought.

Sasuke was at the door when Tsunade came out of her thoughts. She smirked once deciding she could at least get the last laugh in this conversation. "I was right," she said, catching Sasuke's attention. "You really do need to get laid."

Sasuke glared at her and would have lunged if Iruka hadn't quickly appeared in front of him. Iruka pulled Sasuke out of the room, trying to calm him down. Sakura turned to Tsunade in disbelief. "You just had to make it worse," she said. Tsunade smirked at her weakly. It wouldn't do to let anyone know that she was beginning to regret it.

"Lee-sensei," a young Genin asked, catching the attention of everyone in the room. Tsunade's eyes widened when she realized that two Genin rookie teams were waiting for their assignments. "What did the Hokage mean, 'you really do need to get laid'?" the young girl asked, looking at her sensei in confusion. Sakura turned to look at her stunned boyfriend and tried not to laugh. The poor man still hadn't fully recovered. Tsunade's comment must have sent him over the edge. She quickly walked over and led him out of the room beckoning for his team to follow.

"What did she mean?" Lee's student asked again, when they were outside.

"She just meant that he needed to relieve some stress," Sakura answered. "Why don't you all take the day off," she added, shooing them off.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

That night Sasuke finally managed to track down Naruto. The blond was sitting atop the academy, the same place he had gone when Lee had accidentally insulted him. "Why didn't you tell me?" Sasuke asked.

"It's not a big deal," Naruto mumbled in reply.

This time it was Sasuke's turn to yell. "What do you mean, 'it's not a big deal'?" he shouted angrily.

"It's not; I just have to figure out a way around it," Naruto replied, grinning weakly.

"You're not angry at her, are you?" Sasuke said in disbelief.

"Not really, I'm actually shocked she managed to figure it out so quickly and then put together a plan," Naruto said.

Sasuke shook his head. _It must be a blond thing,_ he thought. "Then why have you been avoiding everyone for two days?" he asked.

"Well, yesterday I really was pissed off," Naruto explained.

"And today?" Sasuke asked wryly.

"I've been trying to figure out a way to get back at her," he replied.

"Come up with anything yet?" Sakura asked, tackling Naruto from behind. Both boys looked shocked at her appearance. "What?" she asked innocently.

Naruto shook his head at her. "I figure I'll do what I always do," he said.

"Improvise?" Sakura asked.

"The unexpected," Naruto corrected. _Improvise just doesn't have the right ring to it,_ he thought.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

Two days before picture day, Naruto strolled into the academy. He easily slipped through the halls unnoticed before knocking on the door to Hinata's classroom.

Hinata fought the urge to glare at the interruption at the door. She had thought that after last week she wouldn't have any more problems. Reluctantly, she glanced up from her lecture and said, "Come in."

"Hi!" Naruto said, bounding in.

From what she had heard about the past several days, Naruto's behavior was a bit off. "Yes, Naruto-kun," she replied.

"Got any good ones this year?" he asked, looking at her class appraisingly.

Hinata looked at him in surprise. "And why do you want to know?" she responded in confusion.

"Sakura's considering taking on a team; just wanted to know if I should suggest she go through with it," he explained.

Hinata glanced at her class, before winking at the many soon to be Genin, "Tell her she'll enjoy this batch."

Naruto nodded and looked over the class once more, before winking and poofing out of the room, a moment later Hinata's class was interrupted again.

"Did I hear Naruto in here?" Iruka asked, looking around in confusion.

"He just left," Hinata replied.

"Ah," Iruka said, smiling and turning to go.

"Umm… Iruka-sensei," Kana said nervously, looking back and forth between her own sensei and the Academy's headmaster.

"Yes," Iruka said, looking down towards her.

"Is he really going to become Hokage?" she asked.

"In a few years," Iruka replied.

"But that…that man that was in here last week said that he isn't very smart and that pink haired woman said he was really weird," she protested.

"Ah, well I'll admit that when I taught Naruto he wasn't the smartest of the group. However, he has worked very hard ever since he became a Genin. He's worked not only to become stronger, but to become a better shinobi in general. Part of that training was to make sure he was smarter as well," Iruka explained.

"So he isn't stupid or weird?" one of the boys asked.

"He certainly isn't stupid, although he does seem to have trouble convincing others of that fact," Iruka replied.

"But he isn't really weird, right?" Kana asked.

"Ah, well he is a bit odd, at times," Iruka said nervously.

Hinata bit her lip to stop herself from giggling. "But if you remember what Sakura said, that hasn't stopped anyone from being a good Hokage," she supplied for Iruka.

"So what was he doing in here?" Iruka asked.

"Asking up on my students; he wanted to know if he should recommend that Sakura take a team," Hinata said, preparing to restart her lecture.

"Well that's odd," Iruka mumbled.

"What is?" Hinata asked.

Iruka looked up at her and shook his head. "It's nothing," he replied, smiling secretively.

He was about to leave when Hinata asked, "Do you by any chance know what happened earlier this week? Sasuke and Sakura seem to know, but none of the rest of us can figure it out."

"Ah, he and Tsunade-sama accidentally took a joke too far," Iruka replied, "Don't worry; everything will turn out alright."

Hinata looked at him skeptically but shrugged and turned back to her class. "Well then, shall we continue today's lecture on Yondaime's defeat of the Kyuubi?" she asked, not noticing the slight flinch on Iruka's face as quickly left the room.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

That night, a much happier Naruto met up with his teammates and Lee. "You know Kakashi-sensei still has something planned for us, right?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, I think Tsunade-baba told him we need to cut our hair," Naruto replied.

"How did you know that?" Sasuke asked.

"Umm…Genma may have mentioned it to me," Naruto replied bashfully.

"Naruto…please tell me you didn't threaten Genma again?" Sakura asked.

"I didn't," Naruto replied, grinning nervously. Sakura looked at him for further explanation so he continued nervously. "Well I didn't use any new threats," he claimed. "Although I did come rather close to carrying out the one," he added, smirking at the memory.

"You do know that he just got thrown into the middle of this by Tsunade-sama and Kakashi-sensei, right?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, so?" he asked.

"You need to apologize," Sakura stated.

"I need to apologize?" Naruto said in disbelief.

"Sakura is right," Lee put in, "Genma-san is unfortunate in his position for the past two weeks. It is unfair that you take out your frustrations with others on him."

"But it's so easy," Naruto muttered.

"Naruto," Sakura stated sternly.

"Fine, we'll make it up to him," Naruto finally agreed reluctantly.

"What do you mean 'we'? You're the one who's been threatening him," Sasuke countered.

"Yeah, but he probably won't let me near him unless you guys are there," Naruto said, smiling wickedly.

"What exactly did you do to him?" Sakura asked, before Lee caught her attention.

"Genma-san is right over there with Kakashi-san," he said, pointing to the other side of the street.

Sakura smiled and pulled Lee across the street; Naruto and Sasuke followed a bit more slowly. "Hello Genma!" Sakura said, walking up to the older Jounin.

Genma glanced at the pink haired young woman and three young men behind her suspiciously. "Now what am I being blamed for?" he asked exasperatedly.

Naruto chuckled nervously and walked over to the other Jounin. He glared once at Kakashi before draping an arm over Genma's shoulder and leading the older man over to the others. "We just wanted to apologize for the all the shit you've been put through over the last few weeks," he said.

"Is that so?" Genma asked skeptically. Kakashi watched the whole scene in confusion.

"Yeah, I apologize for threatening you and then trying to actually carry out those threats," Naruto said. "I shouldn't have been so quick to blame you for everything," he added.

Genma was trying to figure out how many times Naruto had had to be hit over the head to act as he was. Kakashi was trying to keep his jaw from dropping off. _Naruto's apologizing for threatening Genma a few times. I had to chase those two brats around the village for six days and receive threats from **Tsunade-sama**, _he thought furiously.

"And I apologize for trying to bring you into the middle of things to often," Sakura said just as genuinely.

_I wonder if Tsunade-sama finally took these kids out drinking,_ Genma wondered.

"We decided we'd take you out to dinner," Sasuke explained, beckoning for Naruto and Genma to keep walking. As Naruto continued to lead Genma down the road, Sasuke fell into step beside him and Sakura and Lee brought up the rear. Kakashi was left standing where he had been the whole time watching the scene in shock. "Oi, Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke yelled before they rounded the bend. "You're coming too," he said, turning around and grinning uncharacteristically.

Kakashi snapped out of his stupor and walked toward the group. He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard Sakura declare, "Damn straight he's coming too. He's paying."

"You just want me around to finance your dates," he said pouting, not that any of the others could tell.

"Isn't that what a sensei does?" Sakura asked innocently. Kakashi made the mistake of glancing at Naruto only to find the blonde's puppy dog eyes on full blast. He quickly caught up to the group, but the rest of the evening he could be heard grumbling about 'stupid blonds' and 'mean, ignorant students'.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

Ino watched in amusement as Team 7, Genma, and Lee walked by on their way to dinner. A small smirk formed on her face when she heard Kakashi say "dates"; she'd have to tell TenTen, Hinata, and the others tomorrow.

When the group disappeared, she returned to her previous pursuit: studying herself in the mirror. She was quite pleased by the results of shopping with Anko; not only did the woman have great taste, but the style differences between the two also helped Ino find something she normally wouldn't have looked at: specifically, the color brown. Luckily, Ino had been compliant when Anko pointed out that both Chouji and Shikamaru would look better in subdued earthy colors. She had agreed to wear the brown mini skirt on the condition that her shirt be her favorite color: purple.

The halter top that Anko had picked out certainly fit the criteria. Unfortunately it was almost hidden under the brown jacket that Anko had insisted she buy. The boots that matched hadn't taken much convincing. Chouji and Shikamaru had both been talked into buying brown pants that matched her skirt. Chouji had bought a dark purple t-shirt, while Shikamaru hadn't agreed to anything that had color in it; his long sleeved shirt was black. Ino smirked into the mirror one last time before changing out of her outfit and getting ready for bed. The upcoming picture day was shaping up to be pure chaos.

* * *

AN: I know the descriptions were a bit boring, but I didn't want to lump them all together next chapter. Now the only one you're waiting for is Team 7's, and Team 8's I suppose. If it makes you feel any better, I don't know what they're wearing yet either. Honestly, I originally considered having Teams 8, 10, and Gai accidentally wear the same thing because they all shopped at the same store. Then when picture day arrived they'd all be standing there while Team 7 looked awesome and laughed at them. I ditched that idea, so now I actually need to use creativity.

Also I don't know if the names I used for Team 10's parents. I've seen several different ones, but these were on a site I've been using lately so I figured I'd use them this time. I had to make up the names for Chouji and Ino's mothers.

I realize that some of Naruto's actions in this chapter might confuse some people, so I'm just going to explain a few things. Naruto is in no way against becoming Hokage; that is still his dream. However, he is only seventeen and quite frankly enjoying the torture Tsunade is going through as he continues to draw it out. The reason he gets so angry at her (I'm not sure how clear it was) is because he hates being forced into things, which is also one of the reasons he spent a week running away from Kakashi and Sakura.

Also, I'm having a bit of writer's block. I have most of the outfits planned, but I can't figure out what to put Hinata, Kiba, and Shino in. Any suggestions would really be appreciated and will receive credit and possibly a preview if I have time. Thanks!

Once again, thanks to all of you who reviewed.

**_Shodaime Ramenkage_** sorry you aren't a big fan of yaoi, but I'm glad you found a way around it. Also if there was anything I can clear up for you feel free to ask. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

**_Dual Rasengan,_****_wolvesm0on,_** **_krn-kimbap,_** **_Ly Mizukage _**hehe, glad you enjoyed it!

**_Night-Owl123,_****_insanechildfanfic,_** **_Only Secret,_** I'm glad you enjoyed it. Once again, sorry this chapter was late.

**_Alana-StarSugarCat,_****_starry096 _**thanks! As for what they are going to wear; I just recently came up with a devious plot, so you'll just have to wait and see. Enjoy!

**_Goingcommando_** I'm glad you enjoyed it and like their characterizations. I'll admit Sakura occasionally annoys me, but I really don't see any reason (especially in light of the recent chapters, like you mentioned) to portray her so childishly, like a lot of people do.

**_Harukakanata,_****_Kazumi Tachikawa_** sorry you aren't a big fan of that pairing. Honestly the small scene in last chapter is about as graphic as it's going to get, if that makes you feel any better about the fic. Hopefully the story will keep you entertained enough that you can ignore that aspect of their relationship.

**_Azamiko_** you can never have too many exclamation points! Okay so you can, but that's beside the point. I hope this chapter is worthy of exclamation points as well!

**_kuroi-hagane_** thanks you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it enough, and I think it's awesome that you put me in your C2! Hopefully this continues to entertain you and keep you healthy and vitaminized. Okay so that's totally not a word, but you get what I mean, right?

Okay, so last chapter I mentioned that I might write an epilogue. The thing is I've got another story going, and I'm preparing to put up at least two others. If you guys don't really want an epilogue I've got other things I can spend the time on. If you want it, do me a favor and respond to tell me you do.


	17. Picture Day!

AN: Thanks to all my reviewers. Once again I apologize last chapter was so late. This isn't Monday, but this is much earlier than I actually expected.

**_Ly Mizukage, Dual Rasengan,_** **_Night-Owl123,_** **_starry096,_****_HanaTenshiHimeko,_** **_insanechildfanfic,_****_Alana-StarSugarCat,_** **_Shi Rurouni of the Aphrodesiac _**thanks! I hope you love this one as well.

**_wolvesm0on_** I made the rule up. I never actually wrote what it said in the last chapter, but it is in here.

**_Only Secret_** too long for you? This chapter's shorter, hop you enjoy.

**_Azamiko_** you came close with that second theory about rank difference. It'll be explained in this chapter, and thanks for the favorite. Hopefully this chapter and the epilogue don't disappoint!

**_Kuu-sama_** cynical? I didn't really think they were that bad, but I'm glad they've stayed pretty much on track. I'm glad you enjoyed this.

**_Gabrielle no yume_** thanks for the suggestion, you were actually the only one who gave me anything. Unfortunately I ended up getting inspiration for that like right after I posted the last chapter, but thanks again! I hop you liked what I put her in instead.

I'm not sure I'm pleased with how this turned out and I'll admit that I didn't edit this as heavily as normal, my author's note at the bottom explains part of the reason. The other reason is that I wanted to post on my birthday and since _After the Dream_ is no where near ready, I wrote this. I might have tried to squeeze in too many ideas, so I'm sorry if it doesn't flow well. I hop you all enjoy!

This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor do I own the nifty quote at the end, but I give credit for that at the bottom.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such

* * *

**Picture Day**

"Where are they?" Ino asked impatiently from her seat between her teammates.

"How should I know? They're too troublesome," Shikamaru responded, causing Ino to scowl at him.

"They still have half an hour to get here," Hinata stated, trying to defuse Ino's temper. The rookies, their senseis, Shizune and Anko were all waiting as patiently as possible for Team 7 to show up. She glanced at Shino and Kiba sitting next to her and was pleased to note that neither appeared as impatient as the others, that or they were just too indifferent to care at the moment.

Kurenai-sensei had chosen not to change their individual styles much when she had taken them shopping. Both boys wore baggy khaki cargo shorts, a bit nicer than they normally wore, and black formfitting shirts. She had noticed Ino gazing at Shino appreciatively and wondered just what the blond was up to. Over their shirts both boys wore jackets with furred collars, surprisingly even with the similarities in their outfits, the looked very different – maybe it was the fact that Kiba's hood was down for once. Her outfit wasn't very different from theirs. Although she had been a bit shocked when Kurenai-sensei had recommended the v-neck, sleeveless shirt she was now wearing, her job as a teacher wasn't exactly conducive to anything other than the normal Chuunin uniform.

"Yes, but if they don't get here early, we won't really have time to look at what they're wearing," Ino countered, breaking Hinata away from her studies.

"Like I said, as long as Naruto wears his pajama pants," TenTen said grinning, "By the way, I like your capris Hinata." Neji rolled his eyes at her but Ino looked at her curiously.

"Why do you keep saying that?" she asked.

"Have you ever seen him in his pajamas?" TenTen asked, smiling wickedly. Shizune grinned at the memory and she could hear Anko snickering. Why the insane Jounin was snickering she couldn't tell, but that didn't really matter.

"Do we really need to discuss this?" Kiba asked, rolling his eyes at the girls.

"Yeah, it's not likely that he's interested in any of you anyways," Sakura said, smiling as she pranced in.

Ino looked up in surprise at her pink haired friend. "Where are your teammates?" she asked in confusion.

Sakura sighed and turned to Tsunade. "Kakashi-sensei sent me in to see if you approved," she said, turning slowly to allow the Hokage to study her outfit.

"Hmmm…," Tsunade replied. "No mask, no orange, no black," she muttered as she gazed over her apprentice's outfit.

"Yeah, blue is a good color on you," Ino said. "Much better than red, it doesn't clash with your hair," she added, smirking as Sakura glared at her.

"My lovely flower looks lovely no matter what she wears!" Lee shouted joyously in Sakura's defense. Sakura poked her tongue out at Ino, before plopping down in Lee's lap. "Although that is a very flattering color on you," he conceded quietly.

Ino snickered and Sakura turned to scowl at Lee. She finally sighed and turned back to Tsunade. "So, do I pass?" she asked.

"Hmm…" Tsunade said, jumping out of her daze, "oh, yes of course. Now where is the rest of your team? I specifically stated that all teams were to arrive here together," she added huffily.

"Right outside," Sakura said smiling. Tsunade smiled wickedly and hurried through her office doors. One or two others tried to sneak out as well, but Sakura stopped them all, although Tsunade's shout of joy made her job a bit harder. "Now, now, no need to be hasty," she said smiling. A minute later a side door opened allowing Jiraiya and the elders in.

"Everyone here?" Homura asked, glancing around. He sighed and answered his own question when he realized that part of Team 7 and the Hokage were currently missing.

A moment later a very pleased Hokage walked in grinning brightly. "Where are they?" Jiraiya asked.

"Oh, they'll be in, in a minute. Iruka-kun and Genma stopped by so they're chatting," she replied happily.

Sakura smiled and walked out of the room to join the rest of her team. The minute she disappeared, Ino huffed and sagged back in her chair. "Blue really is her color," she muttered, causing Anko to chuckle.

"Who'd of thought Kakashi would be able to get her to change her style so much," Kurenai responded.

"Yeah, I've never seen that girl actually wear pants before, especially white ones, and light blue definitely brings out her eyes," Anko responded. Tsunade smiled wickedly at them and Anko's face suddenly lit up.

"Actually blue would be very flattering on all three," Shizune added, glancing towards the door in anticipation. Tsunade's triumphant smirk grew wider.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes and thankfully noted that less than half of the room's occupants were actually paying attention to the current conversation. Luckily, those interested didn't have to wait long before the chatting group waltzed back in. Sakura once more made her way over to Lee, the poor boy nearly wilted under the glare Kakashi sent him. Naruto smacked his sensei over the head before turning expectantly to the Hokage. The faster they were done with this, the faster he could turn to more pleasant pursuits. "So who was it?" Naruto asked curiously. If he was stuck here, the least he could do was embarrass Tsunade.

"Who was what?" Tsunade responded innocently in confusion. It was safe to say that with the exception of Sakura and Sasuke the rest of the room was confused as well. Actually, as well as they knew their teammate/boyfriend/loudmouth blond they had no clue what he was referring to either.

"Which of our clients caught you? Who's seen the same pictures of twelve year olds for too many years to fall for it?" Naruto asked grinning. Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi all grinned when they realized what Naruto was referring to. The others looked at him like he was an idiot.

Tsunade appeared taken aback for a moment and the rest of the room was looking at the two in confusion. "Madame Shijimi" she finally responded sheepishly.

Naruto's triumphant grin, wiped all doubtful looks off the others' faces. "I knew it. I knew you did this on purpose," Naruto shouted back.

"Now see here," Tsunade responded angrily, "I didn't do this on purpose."

"Why the hell not?" Naruto asked. "You made the village look like they were consistently raising geniuses. It may have been a bit underhanded, but who cares," he responded.

"Is he serious?" Chouji muttered.

Tsunade grinned wickedly at the young blond standing in front of her. Admittedly, it was easier to make fun of him when she didn't have to strain her neck to look up at him, but it was still fun. "You see this is why you should be Hokage," she said smartly.

Naruto rolled his eyes at her. "Please tell me you didn't put us through this just to get me take your job?" he asked pathetically.

"That was just a side benefit," Tsunade replied still smiling. Naruto could only roll his eyes again and allow the Hokage to carry out whatever crackpot scheme she had come up with. Neji seemed to be the only one even remotely amused by what Naruto had just revealed.

TenTen wasn't simply amused, she was shocked. "Naruto, how did you come up with that?" she asked.

"Come up with what?" he asked.

"That theory," she asked.

"Like I told them," he answered beckoning towards his team. "Most of us have impressive records for seventeen and eighteen year olds. Imagine what our high paying clients would think if they saw those records and connected them with the images of twelve year olds. It may have hurt that most of us looked like idiots when we were twelve, but it still makes the village look like it has more power to it than it does," he explained. TenTen blinked several times at him and turned to see if anyone else was as confused as her. "Never mind," Naruto muttered a bit discouraged by their reaction.

"Now see Hinata," Iruka responded in his defense, "isn't this what I told your class about."

"Yeah," she responded a bit stunned. "Although, I think this particular plot adds more to the weird argument," she added once she had recovered.

"Only a blond," TenTen muttered, gaining glares from the three blonds in the room.

"Anyways," Tsunade said, bringing the room's attention back to her. "Before we move on to actually taking the pictures, I'd like to thank all of you – bar Sasuke and Naruto - for your willingness and compliance. I know such a task is below your skills, but keeping up appearances is important for shinobi, whether you realize it or not," she stated. Naruto and Sasuke glared at her, but she ignored them and went on. "That said I'd also like to thank all of your senseis, as well as Anko and Shizune, for doing such a wonderful job preparing all of you for today. All of you look wonderful, and it is always pleasure to see the end of results when some of the less attentive persons are cleaned up," she said.

"Yeah, it's such a pity that monogamy is encouraged," Ino said, glancing around at all the men.

"Well, seeing as how five of them are taken, you can always just have your pick of the rest," Sakura countered.

"Five?" Kurenai asked.

"No wait, it's six now isn't it Hinata," TenTen asked, causing the Hyuuga to blush. Well Hinata blushed; Neji glared at a smirking Kiba; and TenTen giggled. _Neji is so cute when he gets protective,_ she thought giddily, _Kami I'm turning into a fan girl._

"Even, so that's not six. Shikamaru, Kiba, Neji, and Lee are the only ones currently involved. That makes four," Asuma said.

Sakura smiled and her eyes shifted just slightly to her amused teammates.

"Oh, pay up Shikamaru!" Ino shouted triumphantly.

"That is undeniable proof," Chouji agreed, pointing to Sakura's shifty eyes.

Shikamaru glanced around and noticed that he wasn't the only one in a bad position. From the looks of things, Homura and Koharu owed a good deal to the Hokage. Tsunade was simply preening as she looked at Naruto and Sasuke. "I haven't seen any proof yet," he countered.

"Then why would Kakashi-san grumble about financing his students' dates?" she countered triumphantly. Kakashi glared at no one in particular at the memory. Lee spluttered once more, catching the others' attention. "And why do you keep doing that?" Ino asked.

Sakura broke down laughing, and Sasuke and Naruto worked to school their amused reactions. "Seriously Lee, it's like all of sudden you've got these random triggers. You're acting weirder than normal," TenTen added.

"How long has this been happening?" Tsunade asked with false concern, most of her attention was on a very smug Kakashi and his well humored students.

"Since the day before your meeting last week, he was completely out of it that day, but he bolted when he saw Naruto," TenTen explained.

"Yeah, then like the next day Sakura mentioned sparring and he got all spluttery again," Ino said. Naruto and Sasuke decided they couldn't hold in their laughter anymore, seeing the two rolling around the ground clutching their stomachs was quite the sight.

Tsunade snapped a picture before they could see, and smiled smugly at the rest of the room. "Kakashi, my eternal rival. What have your unconventional students done to my most beloved Lee-kun?" Gai asked.

"Yes, Kakashi-kun, what did they do to affect Lee in such a way?" Tsunade asked, watching him with a smirk on her face.

"He just saw them sparring," Sakura choked out still laughing, Lee managed to school his reaction a bit, but TenTen noticed the trigger.

Ino smiled as she remembered her joke from the previous week. Tsunade shook her head and reached down, hoisting Naruto to his feet. The blond grinned at her and stuck out his tongue, "Not my fault you missed it." Tsunade glared at him, but ignored the taunt.

"So Sasuke-kun?" She asked, changing the subject and immediately putting both boys on guard. "Who do you think should take your place?" The others perked up immediately; Sasuke's promotion would leave an opening for an ANBU captain.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke said, watching her cautiously.

"Well now that you've been promoted…" Tsunade began.

"No, I already told you, I won't stop working with a team," Sasuke said cutting her off.

"Hmm… well that's not really a problem, but I did intend to promote Neji to captain, but if there isn't a team to give him…" Tsunade trailed off glancing not so subtly at Naruto.

"Oh does that mean Sasuke's been officially promoted?" he asked lazily.

"Yes!" Tsunade said, wickedly grinning at him.

"Hmm…then I guess this goes to you," Naruto said, handing Sasuke an envelope.

Tsunade looked at the envelope and then back and forth between Naruto and Sasuke giddily. "Yes!" she shouted out victoriously. Sakura's smirk in her direction should have raised eyebrows, but no one was really paying attention to the pink haired girl.

"No," Sasuke said after reading through Naruto's letter. Tsunade looked at them in confusion. "All requests for pay raises get taken up with payroll," he continued, causing Tsunade to look at Naruto in horror.

"Yeah, but I'm more likely to get it if you hand it in yourself," Naruto retorted.

"No," Tsunade whimpered, looking at the two in horror

"Is something wrong?" Naruto asked innocently.

Tsunade stared at the blond Jounin in shock; Iruka resisted the urge to chuckle at her miscalculation. Though knowing the young blond as he did, Naruto still had something up his sleeve. He was proven right a moment later, when Sasuke pulled out a second sheet of paper. "Hmm..." he hummed.

"What's that?" Tsunade asked, as dread filled her.

"Nothing," Sasuke replied.

Tsunade looked incredibly depressed and turned back to the rest of the group. If Naruto intended to be mean to her, she would just ignore him for a while. She also wanted to get this damn picture day over with so she could go get drunk.

"So Neji, would you have taken the promotion?" Sakura asked, just as Tsunade had opened her mouth to speak. Tsunade turned to look at the girl impatiently.

"Obviously," Neji replied.

"What if…it meant you had to break up with TenTen?" she asked.

Neji blinked her at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?" he finally asked.

"Eh? You didn't know," Sakura said, looking at him sympathetically. "Rule number 42, paragraph 20, line 7 states that shinobi cannot be involved in a romantic relationship with his or her direct superior, unless said superior is the Hokage," she quoted expertly.

Tsunade glanced at Naruto and Sasuke nervously. She looked away guiltily when she noticed several of the former rookies looking at her in shock. "Oh, that rule hasn't been enforced for decades," Homura responded, causing Tsunade to grimace.

"We're actually working on revising the rule book," Koharu stated, "that rule will be one of the first to go."

Tsunade's grimace deepened when she noticed Naruto staring at her in shock. "YOU LOUSY OLD HAG!" he shouted. "You knew they were throwing that rule out, didn't you?" he accused.

"Maybe," Tsunade muttered, turning her glare to the elders.

"Of course she knew," Shizune replied, "she authorized its removal last week." Tsunade turned her glare to her bratty apprentice. It was her fault she agreed to authorize it. She would never understand why Shizune was so adamant about the need to remove that type of restriction, but her attendant had argued against it ever since she learned of its existence as a child.

"Well then, I guess I can throw this out," Sasuke said, looking at the second piece of paper from Naruto.

"What?" Tsunade replied hastily.

"Well, if that rule isn't really in effect, there's no need for Naruto to resign," he said shrugging.

Tsunade looked at the smirking duo in horror. "NO!" she wailed mournfully, "I was so close," she said, turning to the elders. Homura vaguely wondered if the Hokage was drunk again.

"Apologize," Naruto said startling her.

"What?" she asked, recovering miraculously.

"Apologize," he repeated a bit too happily.

"For what?" she asked angrily.

"Being a scheming, slippery, duplicitous-" he was cut off when Tsunade's hand found his mouth.

"No need to repeat that," she bit out, "and I apologize," she added as gracefully as possible.

Naruto's triumphant smirk caused her to huff. "See that wasn't so difficult, now was it?" he asked like he was speaking to a child.

Tsunade glared at him and Naruto grinned in return. After a moment he turned to Sasuke and held out his hand, his boyfriend handed the papers to him and Naruto studied them for a moment. As Tsunade watched tearfully, the blond tore one of them up before shoving the second one roughly into her hand. "Don't think I'm giving you a raise either," she said angrily.

"Actually you are," Naruto replied. "Jounin make more if they take on a Genin team and do individual missions, than they do if they remain on ANBU," he explained.

Tsunade was so busy glaring at the blond that it took several moments for her to realize what he had said. She looked down at the paper in her hand and a moment later, a victorious shout rang through Hokage Tower. "Victory is mine, victory is mine. Great day in the morning, victory is mine! I drink from the keg of glory, Shizune. Bring me the finest muffins and bagels in all the land!"

"She's going to unbearable after this," Shizune muttered.

"Are we going to take pictures at some point?" Hinata asked meekly, interrupting the Hokage's humorous victory dance – Jiraiya was drooling.

"Pictures?" Tsunade asked in confusion.

"Yeah old hag, as in the reason you tortured all of us for over a week," Naruto responded.

"Oh right," Tsunade replied, sweat dropping. "The photographer is waiting in there," she said pointing through the door Jiraiya and the elders had come through.

Naruto took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. "Remind me again why I thought it would be a good idea for you to become Hokage," he muttered, as Kurenai quickly escorted her team out of the room. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

AN: There will be an epilogue. I really only got one or two people specifically ask for one, but seeing as how I have this nagging feeling that I left something out of this chapter (_smirks_) I figure I should put one up. Like I've said several times though, it will be a while. I'd like to have it up by August, but that'll only happen if I can get all the old chapters edited and everything. I cut a few scenes and stuff like that, that I would like to put back in, so it could be a while.

Tsunade's victory speech at the end is ripped straight from the west wing. It's said by the character Josh Lyman, and I couldn't resist the chance to use it.


	18. Record Breaking

AN: It's finally here! Just so you know I didn't do as much editing as I originally planned. I just went back and cleaned up some of the grammar and spelling mistakes; no real changes so you don't have to go back looking for new scenes or anything.

All of you should thank my reviewer Kakrotta for reminding me to get moving on this fic. I was getting ready to start another fic when I got the review and remembered that I still had this to write. Now that this is done, I can move on and work on the others.

This officially marks the end of my first Naruto fan fiction. I have to admit that I am quite proud of myself for making it all the way through. Enjoy!

P.S. If you read all the way down to the bottom past my author note you'll get a treat.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

B regular stuff

_B_ internal thoughts and such.

* * *

**Picture Day**

"Sakura-sensei!" Whatever thoughts Konoha had of a peaceful day were officially shattered by the enthusiastic shout of a young Chuunin.

"Kana-chan," Sakura said, smiling at her former student in greeting. "How are all of you today?" she asked trailing her eyes over her former students.

"We're all fine," Kana answered. "We were waiting for Lee-sensei's students; we were all going to come visit you," Kana explained.

"It looks like they're here now," Sakura said, pointing to the three Chuunin walking towards them.

"Where were you heading to?" Kana asked turning around.

"Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun jut got back from a mission. Lee and I are meeting them for dinner to tell them the good news," Sakura said winking at them. "Do you all want to come?" she asked.

The six Chuunin grinned at each other and nodded eagerly. "Ichiraku's?" Kana asked jokingly.

"Of course!" Lee shouted bounding up to the group. "My illustrious rival would have it no other way!" he added, giving the teens the nice-guy pose.

"We should get going," Sakura said grinning at her husband. She grinned a bit more when she remembered telling Naruto that it would only take six months. She had been wrong of course: it had only taken four months Lee to propose. They had been married in a small ceremony three weeks later. Naruto, Sasuke, and Genma had been given the job of making sure Kakashi wasn't late. In one of his strokes of genius, Naruto had simply told Kakashi that the four o'clock wedding started at noon. Kakashi set a record: he was half an hour early for the first time in his adult life.

The group of eight entered Ichiraku's and quickly sat themselves at the large corner section – Naruto had of course seen to it that the Ramen stand had expanded to nicely sized restaurant over the past several years. They had been there for a minute or so when Sakura looked up to find Kakashi and Genma entering the restaurant; she wasted no time in waving them over. "What's the occasion?" Genma asked, as the two seated themselves.

"They got back this morning," Sakura answered grinning.

"Ah, you telling them?" Kakashi asked, gaining a nod from Sakura.

"The Chuunin Exams are coming up," Genma said, during a drag in the conversation about ten minutes later.

"Oh, that's right. I wonder if Naruto's nominating his team," Sakura said.

"Already?" Lee asked, "It is unwise to send such inexperienced Genin into the exam. We both gave our students a year before nominating them," he added.

"I sent my team in as rookies," Kakashi reminded him, not bothering to look up from his book. Jiraiya's latest book was his best selling yet. _I wonder if Naruto and Sasuke have seen this yet._ He pondered just as Jiraiya walked by the restaurant's window. _Guess not. He'd be dead if they realized he had modeled the newest characters off of them,_ Kakashi decided snickering.

"Kakashi-sensei would please not read that thing right now. If Naruto or Sasuke see it, it could ruin the whole night," Sakura said, glaring at him.

Kakashi sighed and slipped it back in his pocket. "Anyways, Naruto will probably nominate them just to give them more experience; it's what I did," he said.

"Yes, but just because you did it doesn't mean he will," Sakura countered.

"I don't know; I think if he had been allowed he would have nominated them for the last Chuunin exam," Kakashi declared.

"My eternal rival is not so irresponsible as that. He would not have nominated them for the Chuunin exam barely two weeks after becoming Genin and only two D-class missions under their belts," Lee exclaimed.

"Actually, I tried to," Naruto said walking up to the group. "I wanted to beat Kakashi's record by putting them through earlier, but Tsunade wouldn't let me since they didn't have the required number of missions," he added, glancing down at the young Genin standing nearby.

"You already beat his record by failing twelve teams before finally taking one," Sasuke retorted walking up beside Naruto and sliding an arm over his shoulder.

"I told the old hag that they could complete six more missions in the week before the exam actually started but she still wouldn't let me," Naruto added pouting.

"I take that to mean you're nominating them this time," Genma said, gaining a nod from the blond.

Sakura took her time gazing at her teammates. If they had been boyishly handsome at seventeen, they were stark raving gorgeous at twenty four. Okay so maybe she was a bit biased in wanting to believe that they were the most attractive men in Konoha, which they were, but still. "So what's the occasion, other than my illustrious homecoming?" Naruto asked causing the six Chuunin already seated to laugh. Sakura wondered if he had used that adjective on purpose.

"Have a seat, Kakashi-sensei's buying," Sakura said, inviting them to sit at their table.

"Why do I always end up paying?" Kakashi mumbled, glaring at his adorable former students.

"Payment for torturing us for so long," Sasuke claimed.

"So what is the occasion?" Naruto asked again, once he and his students had settled in. Sasuke sat down next to him after pulling up an extra chair.

Sakura grinned at them. "First off I should warn you that if you haven't already seen Tsunade, be careful around her for the next week or so. The elders have cut down her sake supply and she's been in a bad mood ever since," Sakura explained.

"Damn, I have to turn in our mission statement to her tomorrow," Naruto cursed. He and his team had their first C-class mission over the past month. Tsunade wanted to hear about it first hand from him and Sasuke.

"However, that isn't why we invited you here," Sakura added, grinning at them. Naruto leaned in and looked at his green eyed teammate suspiciously. "Lee and I are expecting, we found out about a week after you left," she said. Naruto and Sasuke gaped at for a moment before finally realizing what she had said.

"Go Lee!" Naruto shouted, causing Lee to blush bright red.

"Congratulations," Sasuke said, grinning at Sakura. It was amazing how much more he smiled now. _Naruto has been an excellent influence on him,_ Sakura thought. _Either that or Tsunade was right, he just needed to get laid,_ she added in her mind. She spent the next five minutes trying to ignore the leer on Inner Sakura's face, that girl had enjoyed Jiraiya's new book a bit too much.

After the group finished dinner, Naruto's Genin had taken off for home. Lee and Sakura's former students had split off from the group as well; one of them had mentioned training. Former Team 7 decided to take a stroll around Konoha, accompanied by Lee and Genma.

They were passing Hokage Tower when a body flew out the second story window and landed on the ground in front of them. "Ero-Sennin, what did you do this time?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya had opened his mouth to retort when a figure in green spandex exited the already shattered window and landed next to Jiraiya. "If I ever catch you there again, I'll kill you myself and save Naruto the trouble," Tsunade yelled down to Jiraiya. "And wear something else," she added for Gai.

Naruto looked up at Tsunade questioningly. "Oi! Old hag, why would I kill him?" he shouted up to him.

Tsunade's eye twitched at her pet name before realizing who it was. "Welcome back Naruto-kun," she said as sweetly as possible. Her grin took on a slightly frightening edge when she turned back to Jiraiya. She pulled out a small orange book and dropped into the blonde's waiting arms.

Naruto took one look at the book and the temperature in his vicinity dropped below freezing. "I was gone for one month, and this is what I come back to?" he asked, shoving the offending material into Sasuke's arms.

"Shit," Jiraiya muttered jumping to his feet and taking off.

"I can't believe that man," Naruto said watching Jiraiya run off. He turned to Sasuke for support only to find him flipping through the book with interest. "What are you doing?" Naruto asked in slight horror.

Sasuke looked up at him and quickly hid the book away for later. "Nothing," he mumbled.

Naruto turned to glare at Kakashi. "You turned him into pervert," he shouted.

Kakashi sweat dropped and backed away from the irate blond. He turned to Genma for support, but the other man just twiddled with the senbon stuck in his mouth. "At least he's not blaming me for this," Genma stated.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and whispered something to Naruto. Much to Sakura's amusement the blond blushed lightly. "Fine," Naruto finally said, turning away from Kakashi. "So how is everyone else?" he asked cheerily, turning back to Sakura with a grin. _Yup, the mood swings are still scary,_ Kakashi thought.

The group once again set off around Konoha discussing the latest gossip in Konoha. Hinata was close to a mental breakdown; it seemed she had yelled at two people when they had messed up the flower arrangements for her impending wedding to Kiba. Ino it seemed had gotten bored with dating every man she could lay her eyes on. She and Chouji had been dating the entire time Naruto and Sasuke were gone, and Sakura said it didn't seem likely that they would break up anytime soon. TenTen and Neji had finally learned that their daughter would have a younger brother: TenTen was due in two months.

As the group passed Sakura and Lee's house, they bid farewell. Kakashi and Genma set off for their apartment; and Sasuke and Naruto went the opposite way towards their own.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

The next morning, Naruto and Sasuke dutifully reported to Tsunade's office. The mission had gone off without a hitch they assured her and yes the team was now perfectly prepared to enter the Chunnin Exam. "Well that's good," Tsunade muttered, staring at the back wall dejectedly.

Halfway to the door Naruto decided to take pity on the woman and muttered to Sasuke, "You go on ahead; I'll meet up with you later." When Sasuke closed the door, Naruto walked back sat down in front of Tsunade. "Sakura and Lee told us she was pregnant," he stated, hoping that would get Tsunade to talk.

"That child had better look like his or her mother," Tsunade mumbled.

Naruto shivered at the thought of another Lee or Gai running around. "Anyways, she also mentioned that you were having a bad week. I figured I could make it a little bit better," Naruto declared, pulling out his travel bag.

"You're not leaving again," Tsunade stated.

"I know that," Naruto replied, reaching in and grabbing two bottles of Sake. "Courtesy of Tea Country," he said, handing them to her.

Tsunade greedily reached out and took them. "Oh Sake, how I have missed you," she muttered.

While Tsunade was busy fondling her gift, Naruto let his eyes drift around the office before finally settling on the pictures lining the front of her desk. He smirked when he finally reached the newest one. _Kami, Sasuke looked good that day,_ he thought.

Kakashi had gotten it into his head that Team 7 had needed to break away from their usual style and colors; now that he could look back at it without remembering the terrifying week before hand, the man was a genius. Sasuke was wearing dark gray pants with a navy blue fitted t-shirt. Sakura was wearing white pants and a light blue tank top, which brought out the green her eyes and made her hair look even pinker. He was wearing grey pants just a bit lighter than Sasuke's. Kakashi had made him try on nearly a hundred shirts before finally deciding on the second one he had chosen. It was a sleeveless shirt the same color blue as his eyes; it had an oddly shaped collar that was higher in the back than the front. Kakashi had mentioned that it reminded him of the jacket the forth had worn.

Tsunade looked up from her Sake and realized that Naruto was still there. "Why are you still here?" she asked.

Naruto broke his gaze away from his team photo and reached back into his bag. "I got this back this morning on the way here, thought you might like it," he said pulling out a picture frame.

Tsunade gazed down at Naruto and the three runts standing in front of him and grinned. Luckily none of his students were frowning, Naruto made sure that they were always in high spirits. "Okay," Tsunade finally said setting down on her desk. "Is there anything else?" she asked when Naruto still didn't stand up.

"I was just wondering," Naruto began looking at her curiously. "When are you going to give that hat?" he asked, pointing to the Hokage's ceremonial headdress sitting on its stand in the corner.

Tsunade blinked twice and cleared ears hoping that she had heard him correctly. "When do you want it?" she finally asked.

"Whenever you're ready to part with it," Naruto countered, smirking at her.

Tsunade studied him for a moment before jumping and cheering. She walked over and flung that hat at Naruto before taking off for the door. Naruto watched in a slight daze as she took off down the hall shouting, "Tanzaku Gai, here I come!"

Five minutes later, Sasuke and Sakura walked into Tsunade's office in confusion. "What did you do? She was pissed off yesterday, now she's running around hugging people and inviting random people out for drinks," Sakura asked.

Naruto swung his chair around and raised the headdress onto his head. "Oh," Sakura said staring at him.

Sasuke grinned at Naruto and walked over to sit down next to him. "Now that you've become Hokage, what do you plan on doing next?" he asked.

Sakura's shout of joy cut off Naruto's reply. "You did it!" she shouted happily, "Wait until I tell everyone. Oh, this awesome. I was on the same team as the Hokage. He used to ask me out on dates. I actually beat him once or twice in spars, and this is so great," she rambled on much to Sasuke and Naruto's amusement.

"Would somebody care to explain why the Hokage is running around like a chicken with its head cut off?" Shikamaru asked sauntering in.

"Tsunade-sama," Naruto corrected.

"Yeah, why's the Hokage…" Shikamaru was cut off by Naruto.

"Not Hokage, Tsunade-sama," Sakura said, pointing to Naruto.

Shikamaru looked at Naruto for a moment. "How troublesome," he declared before turning away and walking out. "I suppose I should go alert the elders," he muttered as he waved goodbye. Apparently he was still sore about losing so much money after he lost that bet to Ino and Chouji. Not that he could put it off for lack of evidence when Naruto had gotten sick of his grumbling one night at Ichiraku's and had pulled Sasuke into a kiss that lasted well over a minute. Lee hadn't been able to set foot in the restaurant for almost six months.

Naruto grinned and stood as well. "I'm gonna go tell Iruka," he said, waving goodbye.

"We'll wait for you here," Sakura said, "We'll get Kakashi-sensei to treat us to ramen when you get back."

* * *

AN: Okay so this is the end. Thank you to everyone who enjoyed and stayed with this story. Once more I'm sorry it took so long to get this up.

For those of you who really liked this, I'm working on another story that is fairly similar. Some of the pairings will change, but the characterizations and general mood will be almost the same. It's a longer story and will have more action in it, hopefully when it gets put up you guys will like it as well.

Also in case you didn't catch it, Tanzaku Gai is the city/area where Naruto and Jiraiya first met up with Tsunade. From the way the others referred to it, I got the impression that it was a rather famous spot for gambling centers and such.

Reviews:

**_Pony-Taled Baka _**well the elders' names were cannon but they aren't used that much, so I apologize for the confusion. As for Naruto's scheme, he gave Sasuke two pieces of paper: one held a fake pay raise request to freak out Tsunade; the other held his resignation from ANBU. He tore up the pay raise request and handed Tsunade his resignation. He was toying with her. I hope that clears it up a bit. I also hope you enjoyed this last chapter!

**_Ly Mizukage_** I'm glad you enjoyed it. I am a bit confused by this: _you aren't planning to end with writing right?_ I'm not quite sure what you meant so I really can't respond. I hope you enjoyed the last chapter!

**_Goingcommando, wolvesm0on,_** **_Shi Rurouni of the Aphrodesiac,_** **_kelpy,_****_Night-Owl123,_****_HanaTenshiHimeko,_****_insanechildfanfic,_****_Alana-StarSugarCat,_****_Kazumi Tachikawa,_** **_Kuu-sama,_** I hope you enjoyed this!

**_Non_** well once again a reviewer kinda confused me. Technically, it became Sakura/Lee back in like chapter six. I don't know if something in one of the flashbacks bothered you or what, sorry if you don't like that pairing. Really none of the pairings played a real role in the story so…like I said, just confused. I hope you enjoyed the ending!

**_Azamiko_** I hope you enjoyed!

**_PH-Snuffpot_** sorry the rookie thing bothered you. I just didn't know how else to refer to that particular group; I figure they'll always be known as the rookies since it isn't often that rookies enter the Chuunin Exam and from the looks of things even Gai's team was younger than the average participant. Anyways, I'm glad you liked it so much, I'd try fan art but I can't draw so it'd suck. If anyone else out there would like to try that would be fine with me but like I said I suck. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**_Noname_** well I'm not sure if this is what you meant by mention, but anyways hi! I looked up that phrase but what I got back was "Hämden is really sweet", I'm confused. Did it just not translate right or…? Anyways, hope you enjoy (a translation would be appreciated)!

**_LoOkYiTsSpAm_** I did consider making AtD a Sasuke/Naruto, but decided against it. Those two will probably end up not having a romantic involvement. Anyways, I'm glad you enjoyed this!

**_Black Hikari_** I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. I suppose the real question is what were Jiraiya and Tsunade not betting on. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the epilogue!

**_Kakrotta_** see I kept my promise. This was posted just a day after your email. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and IM me whenever you get bored or whatever; I hope that game turns out to be worth the wait!

* * *

Random Fun: Just a scene that took place, let's say four years before this chapter. Enjoy!

"Lee-kun, could you run this over to Naruto for me?" Sakura asked, running up to her husband. "I promised I'd give him the stats on the Genin team he's going to test tomorrow, but I forgot and now I'm going to be late," she explained, handing him the scroll.

"I'll take it over on the way to Neji's," Lee said, taking the scroll from her and giving Sakura a peck on the cheek. She grinned up at him and took off towards the hospital for her rounds.

Lee headed off in the opposite direction towards Naruto and Sasuke's apartment. Luckily he had gotten over his slight problem with the word spar about a year after the incident. Not that anyone other than Sakura had even tried to help him. Naruto and Sasuke had purposely staged several other 'incidents' hoping to prolong his torture. The others brought it up as much as possible; apparently they found his reactions quite funny.

Finally arriving at their apartment complex, Lee threaded his way up three flights of stairs and through the hall towards their apartment. He paused outside and glanced around, it was fairly quiet for this time of day; normally he ran into at least one of their neighbors when he came by.

He turned back to their door with a shrug. His hand paused about an inch from knocking on the wooden door, it was already open. "Hello?" he asked, as he hesitantly pushed the door open wider and walked in. From what he could see and hear the apartment seemed empty. _Oh well, I'll just leave this where my eternal rival is sure to find it,_ he thought to himself happily. _Then Sakura-chan will be so happy with me and…_ his thought drifted aimlessly through the many ways his lovely wife would reward him for completing the task she had set up for him.

Lee's mind was in its happy place as he made his way blindly through the memorized lay out of the apartment. He turned the corner into the kitchen and stopped dead his in tracks. Apparently the apartment wasn't quite as empty as he had thought.

The taijutsu master dropped the scroll on the floor and turned hastily heading for the door. "Lee?" he heard Naruto yell after him. _I will never be able to look at a table the same way again,_ Lee whimpered as he closed the apartment door behind him and took off for the Hyuuga Estate. TenTen had just had a baby girl and he had offered to watch her for the day so that Neji and she could have some time together. He shook the kitchen scene out of his head hoping that he would be able to pay attention to the baby.

After Lee had slammed the door shut, Naruto burst out laughing. "That was priceless," he muttered into Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke grinned down at him before hopping off the table and walking over to the lower cabinet. He opened it allowing the laughing girl inside to climb out. "Did you get it?" he asked.

Ino barely managed to nod in assurance and hand the camera up to him. Kiba spilled out of the cabinet next to Ino laughing hysterically. "He…is never…gonna…get…over this," Kiba finally managed to get out between heaving laughter.

Sasuke turned back to Ino suspiciously. "You took a picture of Lee, right?" he asked. Ino blushed slightly and nodded, "Then why does this say that two pictures have been used?" Sasuke asked. Kiba's laughter only got louder, but Naruto rolled over on his side to glare at the blond girl.

Ino reached up and snatched the camera back. "I figured I deserved a souvenir for being smashed into the cabinet," she quipped back. "Jiraiya will pay good money for that shot," she added before taking off out the window. Sasuke immediately took off after her. Naruto paused just long enough to grab his shirt and kick Kiba in the ribs for laughing at them before he followed as well.

Lee spent the next year and a half eating on the floor.

Naruto and Sasuke never did get the camera back.

AN: Just remember Lee isn't homophobic, just a bit naïve and people like messing with him.

Once again thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, and enjoyed. I'd really like to hear from you all to see how you liked this. Obviously since this is the last chapter I won't be able to respond much. However, I will try (meaning if I remember) to get back to all of you in my bio. If you have any questions, I'll answer them there as soon as I get a chance.


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